


Thalassophile

by Anonymous



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Career Ending Injuries, Home Improvement, Librarian Sid, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Slow Burn, Small Towns, Starting Over, mermaid au, secret life, small town gossip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-11-05 18:43:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11019309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Thalassophile- (n.) a lover of the sea, someone who loves the sea, ocean





	1. Chapter 1

It happens against The Flyers. Because of course it does.

He knows as soon as his knee hits the board that he’s not skating off the ice. 

He knows he’s not going to be skating again. 

The trainer kneels next to him with a careful hand on his arm and starts asking questions. 

He didn’t hit his head. He can move his toes. His back feels fine. 

“You’re gonna be fine, G,” Tanger says when he skates up to him.

The arena is so silent that he’s sure the whole crowd can hear him when he says “that’s it.”

“Yeah,” Tanger says, “don’t worry, we got this.”

“No,” Geno tells him through a hiss of pain as he’s helped onto the stretcher. Kuni stands on one side and Horny on the other. “That’s it. I’m done.”

*

The hospital room is dark and warm when he wakes up from surgery. The first of many.

The light from the city streams through the window. It illuminates the room enough for him to see his parents in the chairs across from him.

They’re slouched down and leaning towards each other. 

His mother is going to have an achy neck when she wakes up.

Geno presses his head against the pillow and looks away. The cotton is cool against his face and the brace on his leg is bulky beneath the sheets. 

He’s not in any pain and he’s sure that has to do with whatever is slowly dripping into the IV that’s in his arm. 

He shuts his eyes and tries not to think about anything until he falls asleep. 

*

The doctors tell him it’s going to take time but there’s a chance that he’ll be able to walk without a noticeable limp. 

When his parents are told he’s not going to play again his mother presses her hand over her mouth and his father leaves the room so no one will see the tears that are welling up in his eyes. 

“You’ll come home,” his mother says with hand on his shoulder. “You’ll come back home.”

Geno doesn’t say anything. 

The front office expects him to stay. 

They made it clear they’re not turning their backs on him, they’re not forgetting him.

_There’s always a place for you here._

The fans want him to take over for Mario. 

They're leaving piles and piles of flowers and get well notes and stuffed animals against the gate at the end of his driveway. 

It's like he died. 

To the fans he might as well have. 

*

He misses the statement that Jim reads with Sullivan standing next to him. 

“It was pretty moving,” Tanger says as he drops a few more magazines on the bed. 

He hasn't turned on the TV or picked up the newspaper that the nurse leaves on his tray when she brings his breakfast each morning. 

All he has are the magazines Tanger has swiped from the waiting room. 

“So.” Tanger sits on the edge of the bed, careful of the brace and folds his hands together. “What are you going to do?” 

“Don't know,” he says and picks up a battered Better Homes and Gardens from ‘97. He flips to one of the dog eared pages and starts to read about a small fishing village off the coast of Nova Scotia. 

Tanger looks like he wants to say something but Geno gives him a look, the same look he used to give him on the ice when he was ready for a fight and he sighs and opens a National Geographic from 2004. 

*

The snow is starting to melt by the time Geno is walking without a crutch. 

The public hasn't seen or heard from him for months but the team tells the media he's doing well. 

They wear a C on their jersey for him during warm ups and Tanger, Kuni, and Phil wear the A’s during the game. 

He only knows that because his mother tells him between begging him to _come home._

He looks down at the article about the Canadian village in the magazine that he smuggled home from the hospital and says goodbye to his mother. 

Then he lets himself go online for the first time in months. 

*

The house is a disaster. 

It's been sitting abandoned for six years and without the upkeep it’s fallen into disrepair. 

Geno likes that though. He likes looking at this broken thing and seeing the potential. It needs paint and the railings on the wraparound deck look like they’re loose. He doubts the front steps will hold much weight and the cabinets in the kitchen should be sanded and re-stained. 

It’s going to be a project but he nothing but time now. 

This house will be a fresh start. Something new and all his own. 

When he calls his real estate agent to make an offer she thinks he's kidding. 

“Why laugh? No joke. Make an offer.”

“Mr. Malkin. This is not- I can't. You haven't even seen the place in person.”

“Don't have to. I want it.”

“We are looking at the same house, aren't we? You sent me the right link?”

He understands why she’s questioning it. 

“Yes, yes, I double check. Now make offer or I find someone else to.”

She sighs but says “I think they're asking too much. I can get it down another ten grand.” 

“Add ten grand to the price. Want this house.”

“Evgeni.”

“I find someone else.” 

There's a long stretch of silence and then “I'll make the call.”

“Put my house on market too. Won't need two.”

“Mr. Malkin-.”

He hangs up on her. 

*

The agent meets him at the house. 

Her arms are crossed tight against her chest and she’s tapping her foot. 

She hands him the keys with a shake of her head. 

“The keys are symbolic. The front door is off it’s hinges.”

He rubs his hand against the door frame. A splinter lodges itself into his palm. “Is fine.”

She heaves another sigh and pushes her way in. “Welcome home.”

Geno has to catch the door before it falls to the ground.

“When are the rest of your things arriving?” She asks as she steps over a hole in the floorboards.

Geno drops his bag to the floor. “This it.”

She blinks at him. Everything that didn’t fit in his bag will be donated or auctioned off for charity. 

“You don’t have any furniture?”

“Can get some in town. If not I order online and get it shipped.”

She smiles and Geno can see right through it. “I’m glad you have a plan. You’re going to need to call the cable company to get you set up with phone and internet. I have their number for you. I also looked into a plumber and someone to check the wiring.”

“I can do that.”

“You can check the wiring?”

“Can read online. Figure it out.” He shrugs one shoulder and tests the knobs on the gas stove in the kitchen. “Maybe watch youtube video.”

She pinches the bridge of her nose. “I was going to tell you I could still get you out of this but it seems like you have your heart set.”

“This good for me up here. Is fun.”

“Getting electrocuted is going to be fun for you?”

“I tell you. Watch youtube, be fine.”

He smiles and leans against the old kitchen table that was left behind. It creaks beneath his weight. 

*

He makes a list of things he needs to do on a piece of newspaper is finds in the bedroom. 

He needs furniture, paint, lumber. 

Tomorrow he’ll have to find food. At least the fridge seems to work. It’s one small blessing. 

The stove seems to work as well and he unearths a pot from beneath the kitchen sink and waits patiently for it to boil. 

All he has is his travel thermos and he makes a note on the newspaper to buy mugs ASAP. 

He sits on the uneven porch steps and dips the tea bag in and out of the water as he toes off his shoes and his socks and rubs the arch of his foot over the smooth rocks at the bottom of the steps and the sand that’s worked it’s way between them. 

The tea isn’t nearly as strong as he likes it but it’ll do for now. 

He rubs his knee like that’s going to take the ache from it and tries not to worry about the mess he probably just gotten himself into. 

His skin feels tacky from the salt that hangs in the air. It feels like he’s swimming in it.

He leans his elbow back against the top step and watches the sun dip below the horizon. It paints a strip of orange across the water. 

Offshore about twenty feet something breaches the water right in the middle of the light. It floats there for a moment and Geno leans forward again, like the extra inches will make the figure clearer. 

A head and shoulders. 

Geno blinks and it’s gone. No splash or ripples on the water beyond the surf. 

It’s getting late and he’s had a long day. He’s getting tired and seeing things. 

Getting up from the low steps is a challenge but he does it while only swearing a half a dozen times. 

Before he goes in for the night he looks over his shoulder at the water and swears he sees a flash of a tail. 


	2. Chapter 2

The diner in town opens at five.

Geno gets there at 5:30, much earlier than he's like to but sleeping on the lumpy couch that's been left behind does a number on his back. He rolls his eyes at how chipper the waiter sounds when he tells him to _“take a seat wherever you like, I'll be right with ya.”_

His name tag says _Jake_ and he doesn't bat an eye at his sullen look when he pours his coffee and puts down the menu. 

He’s young, few years out of high school, maybe, and he doesn’t look like he knows who Geno is at all. 

He's already made up his mind to tip him very well. 

“You're the one that moved into that shack down by the beach, aren't you?” 

He coughs as the coffee goes down the wrong way. It burns his tongue. 

“How you know?”

“This is a tiny, little island. Everyone knows everything. Is it haunted?”

“It’s not haunted,” he grumbles. “Not a shack.”

“The walls are falling in on themselves and it looks haunted.”

“Walls are fine. Everything else,” he waves his hand back and forth. “No ghosts.”

Jake hums like he doesn't believe him. “So what are you going to do with it?”

“Going to live in it.”

“Forever? Like that?”

“No, no, I fix. Not walls because I don't need to but I fix the rest.”

“Who are you going to have helping you? You’re going to hire someone, right?”

“I do myself.”

“You do yourself,” he repeats slowly. “That's a lot of work.”

“Figure out. Look up online.”

He laughs and Geno decides to cut his tip my 10%. “You're going to learn how to fix a house by using the internet?”

“Why not? Everything on internet?”

“Maybe but we never get to see it. It's super slow around here. Even at the school and way out where you are….you're not going to get anything to load.” 

“So what should I do?” 

“Hire someone to do it for you. They'll probably get you a good deal since you're new to town and everything.” 

“No. Want to do myself.”

“It's a pretty big project for just one guy. Especially one that doesn't know what he's doing.”

“You’re pretty chatty for a waiter who should just be bringing me pancakes. And bacon.” 

He rolls his eyes and takes the menu that he's holding out. “I'm just trying to help.” 

Geno shakes his head and looks out the front window. 

The town is starting to wake up. 

A man flips the closed sign to open on the bakery across the street and a grey haired woman unlocks the door to the florist. A man wearing tall yellow boots nods to a woman pushing a baby stroller on the sidewalk. 

“Look, if you want my advice-.”

“Don't.”

 _“If you want my advice,”_ he repeats, attitude so clear in his voice that Geno has to bite the inside of his cheek to stop the smile, “you should probably go to the library. The internet there is _okay_ and there are tons of reference books, Sidney is like, a fiend for books.”

“Who Sidney?”

He slides into the booth across from him. “He's the librarian but he's kind of….” he pauses and leans forward, voice dropping to a whisper. “He's kind of weird.”

Geno finds himself whispering back, “why?”

Jake leans back against the booth and shrugs. Voice returning to normal when he says “he just is. Everyone in this town knows everything about everyone else but no one knows anything about him. We're all real open and friendly, talk your ear off type people.”

“Everyone in town talk as much as you? I go to my house and never come out.”

Jake kicks him. “He's real quiet and standoffish. No family, no friends. Just him and that library and all those books.”

“Maybe just private.”

“No, it's more than that. You'd have to meet him to know.”

“What time library open?”

“Ten.”

“I meet him then. Find out if weird or not for myself.”

“Oh you'll find out pretty quick.” The bell above the door chimes and Jake smiles and waves at the woman that was pushing the stroller. “Come on in, take a seat wherever you like, I'll be right with you. Good luck with, Sid. Hope he doesn't creep you out. Hope you don't get electrocuted.”

“Pancakes and bacon,” he calls after him when he stands up.

*

He has time to kill before the library opens so he wanders around town. 

Gerry from the hardware store opens ten minutes early for him and talks to him for forty minutes about all the things that he’ll need to fix his house. 

He talks about footers and reinforcing them. Drywall and double-paned windows and how they’ll save him money in the long run. 

Geno doesn’t understand any of it, not yet, but by the end he’s charging almost six hundred dollars worth of supplies to his credit card. 

“I’ll throw in delivery for free since you’re new to town,” Gerry says with a slap on his back. “And if you ever need any help at all you give me a call.”

Lucy from the florist convinces him that lavender would look lovely lining the path up to his house and day lilies would really brighten up the area in front of his porch. She sends him on his way with a blooming gaillardia in a pot as a housewarming gift.

Alice at the farm stand feeds him fresh strawberries, dandelion greens, and artichokes that she grew in her garden and Lance at the bakery hands him freshly baked bread.

Outside the bakery Michael from the Animal Shelter has set up a booth to take donation and Geno slides a twenty into the jar and takes a flyer from him advertising an adoption event the following Saturday. 

“We’ve got all kinds of cats and dogs,” Michael tells him. “They all need good homes and you really shouldn’t be all alone in that house of yours.”

They’re nice and mean well but it’s a bit overwhelming and Geno’s thankful when he pushes open the double doors of the library and finds it blissfully silent. 

He tries to set everything he’s carrying down on the front desk but it spills out of his arms at the last second. The carton of strawberries pop open and a few of them roll off the desk. The gaillardia hits the floor and dirt goes everywhere. 

“Shit,” he says softly and kneels down to scoop the dirt back into the pot. 

“Can I help you with something?”

Geno straightens enough to look over the desk. 

There’s a man standing on the other side, broad shoulders and summer tan skin even though it’s early spring. 

There’s a nameplate on the desk that says _Sidney Crosby._

Sid is beautiful and nothing like what Geno was expecting. 

He’s holding half a dozen strawberries in his hands and Geno drops the dirt he’s holding and throws them towards the strawberry container but they knock into the artichokes instead and they roll off the desk as well. 

“Sorry. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” He places the strawberries down on the desk and makes sure they don’t move before he steps back. “Why don’t you just….stop. Just stop and wait. I’ll be right back.”

Geno nods and tries not to lose his breath over the sight of his retreating form. 

He’s back a moment later holding a dustpan and a broom and Geno pushes himself to his feet as Sid starts to sweep. 

“Sorry. People keep giving me things. Everywhere I go people keep giving me things. Can’t say no.” 

“They probably wouldn’t have taken no for an answer anyways,” Sid says as he dumps the dirt back into the pot. “That’s what happens when you’re new to town.”

“How you know?”

“If you come in through the main docks in the center of town everyone knows you’re here within the first five minutes. A bunch of gossips in this town, he says quietly. “You bought the old house down by the shore, didn’t you?” He asks, as if to prove his point. 

“Yes. Geno.” Geno sticks his hand out and then remembers to wipe his dirt covered hands on the back of his jeans. “Is nice to meet you.”

Sid shakes his hand once and Geno points to the nameplate. “You’re Sidney.”

“Yeah, what do you need?”

“Books,” Geno says.

“Okay. Well this is a library so you’re going to need to be more specific.”

“Right. Have to fix house so anything about that. Gerry say something about footers. Have to learn what they are. I’ll take everything you have if I can. Lucy wants me to plant garden, she gave me lots of seeds, so books about flowers. Books about growing vegetables. Might get a pet so something about dogs. Maybe cat book just to be safe. Cookbooks. Sailing. Maybe I build some chairs for the porch.”

“Okay. That’s a lot but I’ll see what I can get for you. Wait here.”

Sid takes off down the aisles, pausing to pull books off shelves and then keeps moving.

“I’m going to need library card aren’t I? What I need for that?”

“All you need is to sign your name on a piece of paper,” Sid calls from somewhere in the back of the building. “I’ll be right there.”

Geno takes the opportunity to get a good look at his desk. It’s clean and organized with a cup filled with pens next to a stack of post-it notes and jars and jars of seaglass. He can hear Sid’s footsteps to his left and he leans over to grab a jar. He holds it up and lets it catch the light coming through the window. 

“Hey.”

The jar slips from his hand and he catches it at the last second. Sid is standing behind him holding a stack of books and Geno gently puts the jar back in it’s place. 

“Sorry, just looking. You collect?”

“I just pick up what I find on the beach.”

“There’s a lot of it.”

“The coast is dotted with dozens of shipwrecks. Things have been washing up on the shore here for hundreds of years.”

Geno hums. “Do you have any books on that?”

Sid puts the books down on the desk and sighs. “I’ll be right back.”

Geno watches him go and then remembers. “Oh, wait. Wiring maybe not so good. Need some books on that.”

“You’re not an electrician, you shouldn’t be doing that.”

“Well, have to read about it.”

“That’s not….no. That’s not how it works.”

Geno rolls his eyes. “Everyone say that.”

“Everyone is right. You should really call a professional for that.”

Sid ducks behind the shelves and Geno picks up another jar of seaglass to look at. This one has shells and rocks mixed in. 

When he comes back he frowns at the jar in his hand and Geno puts it down. He’s carrying two books, one on shipwrecks and _The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Electrical Repair._ Geno smiles at him.

“This is for reference. So you don’t do something stupid like stick a fork in an electrical socket or something.”

“Good thing you tell me. Was going to go home and do just that,” Geno jokes. He pushes his tongue against his cheek and watches Sid try not to be impressed with it. 

“I just need an ID and I’ll get you in the system. I’ll get you a card and you can sign the back of it and you’re good to go.”

Geno digs his license out of his wallet and apologizes for still having his old address on it. Sid waves it off and types his name into the computer, slowing down at the last letter and staring at the screen. Then he shakes his head and starts to scan the books and Geno relaxes. If he knows who he is he’s not saying. 

“You get these for three weeks,” Sid says and Geno starts to stack the books up. 

“Might need them for longer than that.”

“Just drop in and let me know. I’ll renew them from here. I doubt anyone will be looking for them.”

“I come back and see you?”

“You can call if you’d like,” Sid says without looking up.

“No, no. I come see.”

“Fine,” Sid says softly as he finishes the last book. “Then I’ll work on your card and you can pick it up the next time you’re here.”

“Can’t wait.” 

Sid ignores him and Geno tucks his fifteen books beneath his chin but he can't pick up anything else. He juggles the produce for a moment before Sid says “let me get you a bag” and slides a reusable tote with _Perkins Bay Public Library_ written across it. 

“How much,” Geno asks. 

“Don't worry about it.” 

He helps him load up the books and wedge the carton of strawberries and container of artichokes in there as well so they won't be crushed. 

“I come back soon, okay? You'll be here?” 

“I work here.”

Sid doesn't looks up from the computer but Geno smiles at him anyways. 

*

Geno yanks open the door of the diner and points a finger at Jake who is carrying a plate filled with French fries. 

He smiles at him. 

“You lie to me.”

“What did I do?” He keeps walking towards her waiting table and Geno follows. 

“You tell me stories about Sidney Crosby, make me think he's some scary, old man who steals children. Is wrong. I saw him. He's, he's….he looks.”

“I never said anything about the way he looks. Just how he acts.”

“You could have warned me. Look like an idiot in front of him.”

“Sorry, I should have said he's as pretty as he is weird.” 

“Not weird. He helped me, get me all these books. Give me this bag.”

“That maybe the only nice thing he's ever done.”

“He is nice. Very helpful. Didn't want me to stick a fork in a socket.”

“High praise,” he says dryly. “He must really like you.”

“You think?”

Jake rolls his eyes and Geno turns on his heels and heads for the exit. 

*

The lumber and supplies from the hardware store are waiting for him when he gets home.

Seeing everything he needs all stacked up makes it seem more real and more daunting and he bypasses the lumber, drops the bag at the inside of the door, and passes out on the lumpy couch in the living room. 

When he wakes up the house is cooler than he likes it and his back and knee hurt. 

He digs a Pens sweatshirt out of his bag and pulls it on. He’ll have to stop by the furniture store he passed in town tomorrow. One more thing to add to the list. 

He sets water on the stove to boil and for the first time since getting here he turns on his phone. 

Dozens of texts and missed calls pop up and he ignores them all and calls Tanger instead. 

“Dumbest thing you’ve ever done,” Tanger says by way of a hello, “and I’m counting that time you tried to fight Chara.”

“He touch, Sheary. Had to fight. He so small.”

“Whatever, where the fuck are you?”

Geno leans against the railing on the porch. “Canada.”

“Why?”

“Small town, island. See it in one of the magazines you gave me. No one knows who I am. Stay in Pittsburgh, go to Russia, everyone knows me.”

“And you think no one knows who you are in Canada?”

“No one has said anything and everyone so nice. Help me out a lot. House needs a lot of work but I have time.”

“So you’re never coming back?”

“Have house here. Nothing for me back there.”

“Your team.”

“Not my team anymore. Can’t do anything for you anymore. It’s too hard. I tell my mama I come here instead of going back home and she cry. Now you're disappointed in me too.”

“I’m not disappointed, G, I’m worried. You took off without telling anyone. You were just gone. We didn’t know what to think or if you were okay.”

“I’m fine. I need some time. Get away from hockey for a little while. Maybe you can come up and see me this summer. Send you pictures. It’s really beautiful.”

Tanger doesn’t say anything for a moment but when he does he sounds a little sad. “Let me know when you’re ready for guests and I’ll be there.”

They say goodbye and Geno takes a few photos of the view off the front porch to send to him. He’ll show him the house when he’s gotten further along in the renovation. There’s no need to worry him further. 

*

It’s not until the morning when he’s looking over the pictures again when he notices the same figure in the water that he saw the night before. 


	3. Chapter 3

It takes five people to maneuver the king size mattress and the L-shaped couch through the front door and into their proper places. Geno tips them all fifty dollars but it still doesn't seem like enough. 

He starfishes out on clean sheets and sleeps for eleven hours straight. 

When he wakes up it’s still dark out and he curls up at the end of his new couch and turns on the lamp. 

It flickers and he picks up the electrical repair book he got from Sid and starts to thumb through it.

*

He does nothing but read and sleep for the next four days. 

Being alone like that is peaceful and he opens his bedroom windows at night and falls asleep to the sound of the waves breaking on the shore and wakes up to the sound of gulls. 

It’s also lonely. 

The house is small but empty and there’s only so much time he can spend in the diner talking to Jake before he gets too busy to chat. 

For dinner he eats cereal alone at the rickety kitchen table that rocks back forth each time he turns the page in the _Handbuilt Home_ , and tries not to miss his old life too much. 

*

Geno is a creature of habit. 

He likes routine. Craves it. 

Hit the snooze button twice when the alarm goes off and finally get out of bed when it goes off the third time.

Take a shower, get dressed, eat three whole eggs and two egg whites. Whole wheat toast with peanut butter. Check his phone while waiting for the toast to pop up.

Get to the rink ten minutes after everyone else and give as good as he gets when his teammates give him shit. 

Pull on the gear, same way everyday. Left skate first and then the right. Be the last one on the ice. 

All of that is missing now. 

He has no choice but to carve out a new path. 

He wakes up on his own now with the sound of the sea as his alarm. 

The water switches from hot to cold without warning and the water pressure is terrible. He has to duck to fit under the shower head. 

Breakfast is at the diner where he works through the menu and listens to Jake tell him what happened in the town over the last 24 hours. 

How Mrs. Wilson who works at the post office might be having an affair with Mr. Richards who works at the town garage but how that’s all okay because Mrs. Wilson’s husband is kind of an asshole anyways. 

Geno wants to say _‘you gossip like a hockey player’_ at least twenty times during each story but he keeps that to himself. 

There’s no hockey out here. There might be a rink, or at the very least a pond that freezes over in the winter somewhere further inland. Jake would know if he asked. Sid would know. 

Geno doesn’t really _want_ to know. He doesn't have any gear and his knee won’t ever let him go as fast and as hard as his heart wants him to. It’s never been easy for him to do things by halves or quarters. He goes all out. 

He thinks of his run down house and the pile of lumber out front and knows that that’s true. 

After breakfast he walks around town.

He heads down to the docks and reads about the shipwrecks just off the coast as the fisherman load up empty lobster pots and start their day. 

Grey seals line a rocky outcrop a dozen yards from shore and they bark as seagulls fly overhead. 

It really is picture perfect, exactly what he saw in the magazine that got him in here in the first place. 

With time he’s sure he’ll stop itching for more. 

When the library opens he’s there.

Sometimes he beats Sid there and has to sit on the granite until he comes and unlocks the door. 

Sid’s never surprised to see him there and always gives him a tight, put upon smile, as he holds the door open for him. 

He’s always empty handed. No coffee or food so Geno takes to stopping by the bakery on his way and grabbing a coffee and something sweet for him. 

“What’s this?” Sid looks up at him with warm hazel eyes and it takes a moment for Geno to find the right words in english. 

“Coffee and cinnamon bun from bakery. Is yours.”

“I didn’t ask for this.”

“I know. You never drink or eat. Worry about you.”

“You don’t need to.”

“Is good. Had one myself. Can’t eat another. You want me to get fat?”

“You want me to?”

Geno makes a show off looking him up and down and when his eyes settle back on Sid’s face his cheeks are a soft shade of pink. 

“Look good. Little sweet won’t hurt.”

He sticks his tongue against his cheek and watches Sid’s eyes sweep away from his then ducks inside the doors.

Sid eats everything he brings. Eventually.

Geno takes a seat at the table closest to Sid’s desk where he has perfect view of Sid’s profile. 

He reads and takes notes in cyrillic on lined paper, totally absorbed in the world of paint colors and joists to reinforce the deck and how to raise a shower head a few inches, until he hears the crinkling of paper and looks up. 

It’s easy to watch him lick cinnamon sugar off his fingers one day and brush off powdered sugar that’s fallen off the jelly donut and onto his jeans the next. 

It’s even easier to just watch _him._

The way his hair curls at the ends and around the collar of the button down he’s wearing. The way his forearms look when his sleeves are rolled up. 

He bites his lower lip and clears his throat each time he reads fifteen pages, every time.

He saves his smiles for the kids that come in and talks to them in the softest voice, asking them how they liked the book and if they want a sticker. 

Sid is quiet and maybe a bit standoffish but he’s done nothing to warrant the warning that Jake gave him. 

“You’re staring.”

Geno is jolted from his thoughts and focuses on Sid’s face instead of the thin silver chain that’s around his neck. 

“You’re staring,” he repeats and Geno straightens his back and rolls his shoulders. 

“Sorry. Was reading and just…..” He trails off and the flat press of Sid’s lips dip into a frown.

“Are you ever going to anything besides read? Like, actually get something done?”

Geno gasps in mock offense. It’s not enough to get Sid to smile but his frown isn’t so deep. “I fix things. Fix light bulb last night. Fix front door. Now it closes all the way.”

“Congratulations,” Sid says dryly as he stands up. He has a pile of books in his arms and sets them down at the corner of Geno’s table so he can line them up on a shelf marked YA. “Your focus should be on getting the roof done before the storms kick up over the summer. Definitely before winter.”

“You offering to help?”

Sid gives him a look over his shoulder then turns back around.

“I’m just saying, you might want to hurry up.”

“Have to read first. Have to learn. I take notes in Russian to help me remember, see.” He pushes his notebook towards him and Sid turns all the way around, leans his hands on the table, and tries to make sense of the writing in front of him. 

His necklace slips free of the collar of his shirt and a smooth, black, stone pendant swings in the air.

“I didn’t even think about you needing books in Russian.”

Geno’s slow to look away from the necklace and Sid tucks it back beneath his shirt. He absentmindedly touches the chain around his own neck. 

“English is fine, you know? It’s fine. Been here for long time and English is fine but it’s easier to understand in Russian. Writing it down helps me to remember. Copy down a lot of recipes from the cookbook I got. Now just have to make them.” _Maybe you come over some time_ , he thinks but Sid’s already walking back to his desk and doesn’t say another thing until he says goodbye when Geno leaves for the night. 

*

When he finally decides to start work on the house he circles around it, and the stack of lumber three times before he picks a clear starting point. 

He hauls an old, aluminum ladder against the side of it and carefully climbs onto the roof. 

It holds his weight and when he pulls the notes out of his pocket that tells him what to look for he’s pleased to find that it’s mostly in good shape. 

There’s a spot by the chimney that’s going to need a little work and from up here and can see how badly the gutters need to cleaned but it could have been much worse.

He takes his time and does it right and he fixes the roof and the gutters and the shudder that bangs against the house in the wind and keeps him up at night.

He sands and restrains the hardwood floors throughout the house and a deep coffee color. He has to redo the stain in the living room when he realizes he’s boxed himself into the corner and won’t be able to get out without tracking footprints across the floor. 

He doesn’t tell anyone that but he does text pictures to Tanger to show him the progress and holds the phone right in front of Sid’s face so he can show him the flowers that he planted beneath his bedroom window.

“You should have planted them after you put the new windows in and painted the house.They’re going to get trampled.”

“Just wanted things to look pretty, Sid. Aren't they pretty?”

Sid admits that, yes, they are, with a small smile that makes Geno feel like he's managed to build a mansion where his small cabin used to be. 

*

It's tiring and laboring and day working on the house wears him out like a hard practice but when he pulls on his jeans one morning and finds them fitting them a little tighter in the waist than they were before he starts to jog. 

He runs on the beach after dinner. 

It’s only a mile out and back but he feels a little breathless halfway to his house. 

He slows and bends over with his hands on his knees. The pain is constant but dull and he’ll need to take a couple of pain pills before bed or else he won’t be able to bend it at all. 

When he stands up he scans the water thinking maybe he’ll see his creature out there, like he’s seen it every other night he’s looked. 

It’s a daily occurrence. Part of his routine. 

He only has to wait a handful of seconds before it bobs up above the waterline. 

Geno stares at it and it stares back and when he raises his arm to waves at it, it disappears back beneath the water. 

He sighs and shakes his head and when he looks down at his feet to will them to move him the rest of the way he sees a piece of seaglass buried in the sand. 

It’s about the size of a quarter and brown, probably an old beer bottle, but when he holds it between his thumb and forefinger and raises it against the setting sun it the color changes to match the glow of Sid’s eyes. 

He holds it tight in his palm as he walks back to the house. 

*

In the morning he puts an iced coffee and a cannoli on Sid’s desk. 

“Something else for you, too,” he says and Sid looks up. Geno holds his hand out over the desk then nods to Sid’s until he does the same, palm up beneath Geno’s. 

Geno drops the glass into it and Sid closes his fingers around it. 

“Find it on beach and thought of you,” Geno tells him, keeping the comparison to his eyes to himself. “You know, maybe add to your collection.”

“That’s….” Sid shakes his head and manages a small smile. “Thank you, Geno.”

“No problem. I find more and maybe I get my own jar,” he teases and turns towards the oversized chairs towards the back of the room. He wants to claim the good one, the one without the rip in the back of the cushion, but Sid’s voice makes him turn back around. 

“Wait, I have something for you too. Just wait.” 

He still has the glass in his hand when he ducks around the corner and Geno rocks up on his toes and back down again while he waits.

When he comes back he’s holding two books. The titles are written in Russian and he recognizes them as the cookbook and one of the woodworking books that Sid gave him in the first day. 

“Sid.”

“They’re kind of hard to find, that’s why they took so long to get here. Shipping from Russia is just….and the website I ordered them from was all in Russian so I had to translate it. Really it’s amazing that they both got here and they’re the right books. They are right, aren’t they?”

“Yes. Sid, they’re-.”

“If you don’t like them-.”

“No, Sid,” he pulls the books close to his chest. “Love. You get these just for me?”

“For the library, technically. You can hold onto them for as long as you want to but if someone comes asking for them I’m going to need you to return them. But no one is town speaks Russian, as far as I know.”

“Thank you,” Geno says, at a loss to say anything else. 

“Thank you for the glass.”

“Not a fair trade. I’m think of something else for you.”

“You don’t have to.”

He taps his finger against his temple. “I’m think.”

*

The good chair doesn't have a view of Sid but it's so comfortable that he only makes it a half chapter into his book before he falls asleep. 

Late nights, hard work, and stress finally catching up to him. 

The only reason he wakes up is because the book slides off his lap and hits the floor. 

He blinks and doesn't recognize where he is until the book shelves come into focus. 

The sky outside the window are a dusky pink and when he stumbles forward Sid’s sitting at his desk, idly turning the pages of a book. 

“Late,” he says, voice thick with sleep and a heavy accent. “I fell asleep.”

“I know you did.”

“What time?”

“Almost seven thirty.”

“Sid. Library closes at five.”

“The doors have been locked. I had some extra work to do so….” 

His desk is empty except for the book and the computer is off.

“Why didn't you wake me?”

“You seemed pretty out of it. You slept right through the Hannigan twins. Anyone who doesn't wake up when two toddlers come in must need the sleep.”

“Maybe you just forget I was there.”

“You snore. Not possible.”

“I do not.”

Sid simply raises an eyebrow and Geno huffs. 

“You go home now,” he asks and when Sid nods he adds “I wait and walk with you.”

“You don't have to do that.”

“No big deal. You let me sleep, I walk you home.”

“I'm pretty sure your place is first.”

“Then you walk me home.”

Sid shakes his head and turns off the light. “You're stubborn.”

“Not anymore than you.”

“I am not stubborn,” Sid says sharply and Geno laughs.

“Whatever you say, Sid.”

Sid flips the lights off and pushes him out the door. 

Walking home with Sid with books tucked under his arms feels a bit like he should be in grade school walking his crush home after class. 

Sid’s quiet, which is not surprising but Geno feels the need to fill the silence.

“You like to read.”

Sid looks over him with a surprised look on his face. It’s like he forgot he was walking next to him at all. 

“You always have books on your desk. Always reading. Is it for fun or do you have a house you need to fix, too?”

Sid exhales and the breath tips up into a laugh at the end. “No, no, nothing like that. I like it. Sometimes things get a little slow and it passes the time. I like to learn.”

“What you study in school?”

“I didn’t go.”

“Why? So smart.”

“It just.” He stops and shakes his head. “It just didn’t work out.”

“Could still go. Try again.”

“It’s kind of hard to leave the island,” he says and Geno gets that. This seems like the place people don’t ever really leave. They’re born, they live, they work, and they die right here. Businesses have been passed down through generations and plots of land have remained in the family for decades upon decades.

“Online classes then. Know some people who have taken them and they’re good. If you ever get the internet working here.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“No, it’s bad. What’s your favorite thing to read?”

“Biographies I guess. Humans are so fascinating, you know. Everyone is different. One person can find the cure to a devastating disease and save millions of people and another can build a bomb that can destroy a whole city. Reading about what made these people who they are is so interesting, you know?” Geno nods and is completely unprepared for Sid to keep talking. 

He’s read books about presidents and dictators, scientists and athletes. But he’s also interested in learning how things are made. Cars and planes and how the industrial revolution changed the world. 

Geno is happy to let him talk and Sid gets so into telling him about an article he read comparing the struggles of baby boomers and millennials that Geno has to pull him by the elbow down the path to his house. 

“And every generation likes to judge the one that comes after them, that’s the way it’s always been but-.”

He stops when Geno puts a foot on the bottom step of the porch and it creaks, the sound ripping him from his explanation. 

Geno thinks that if had fixed the step the day before Sid would have followed him right into the house.

“Oh.” He looks embarrassed when he finally takes in his surroundings. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Should talk more, you’re good at it.”

Sid raises his hand and rubs at the back of his neck. It seems like he’s done talking for the evening so Geno takes over.

“You know you’re nothing like what I thought you would be. I hear people talk, you know.”

He stops because maybe Sid doesn't know. Maybe it’s all behind his back. 

“I know what people say about me.” He doesn't sound upset or sad. He’s matter of fact and that makes Geno’s heart hurt. “You don’t need to spare my feelings. People tend to avoid me. They think I’m….strange.”

“You’re not. You’re nice. Nice to kids. Help me a lot.”

“It’s my job.”

“You order books for me in Russian. You let me sleep. Walk me home. That’s not your job.”

“I got talked into that last one.”

“Still. We all a little strange sometimes, Sid.” He looks out over the water. “Want to know how I’m strange?”

Sid nods.

“I think something is in water.”

Sid whips his head towards the sea and Geno touches his arm.

“No, not now, I don’t see it right now. But first night I’m here I’m sitting on the steps and I look out and there it is. Is back every night.”

“What do you think it is?” His voice toes the line between curious and wary and Geno shrugs.

“Don’t know. Look like person but then I see tail.”

Sid tenses and Geno laughs.

“Crazy, I know. Other day I actually wave to it like it’s going to wave back.”

“Seals don’t wave back.”

“You think it’s a seal?”

“Seal, dolphin. Sometimes whales swim a little too close to shore and then make their way back out.”

“I see it every day at the same time. When it sees me looking it disappears.”

Sid looks out over the water. “I don’t see anything.” 

“I know. Usually like clockwork.”

“Maybe it’s moved on.”

Geno hums. “Have picture.”

Sid’s hand darts out and smacks against Geno’s chest, fingers curling in the fabric of his shirt. “What?”

“Yeah, yeah, here, I show.”

Geno gets his phone out of his pocket and Sid slowly uncurls his fingers. 

Geno has to scroll through countless photos of the progress he’s made on the house and pretty pictures that he’s taken of the landscape that he’s sent to Tanger but when he finally finds the photo of the creature in the water he holds the phone out to Sid.

Sid steps up on the same step Geno is on and stands close, one shoulder wedged against Geno’s chest.

“See.” He waves the phone in front of his face and Sid grabs him by the wrist to steady it. 

“That’s too blurry. You can’t see anything.” His voice is slightly hysterical and tinged with relief. “That could be anything.”

“No, look.” He touches his fingertip to the phone and traces the outline of the figure. “Head and shoulders.”

“That _could_ be anything,” Sid repeats, “a piece of driftwood or a buoy.”

“It’s there every night. When it sees me looking it goes away.”

“That’s just a coincidence, Geno. It’s nothing.”

“I think is something.” He pockets his phone. “You have boat, right.”

“Almost everyone on the island has one.”

“Maybe you take me out,” Geno says lightly. “We go look for this thing.”

Sid shakes his head. “No.”

“C’mon, could be fun.”

“I said no,” Sid snaps. “I’m not doing that.”

Geno holds both hands up. “Okay. Alright. I’m sorry.”

The anger disappears from his face and his shoulders slump. “No,” he says again but the bite is gone from his voice. “I’m just….it’s.” He takes a deep breath and tries to regroup. “It's one of those things...

Geno nods.

“It’s hard to explain but-.”

“It’s okay, Sid. We all weird about something.” He has his secrets too. “Don’t have to explain.”

“There’s just no reason to go out there. It’s a seal, Geno. They’re down by the docks every morning.” 

He seems tired, the sudden rush of emotion taking a lot out of him and Geno feels like he should back this down.

“Okay, Sid. I just think something in the water, you know, it’s interesting.”

“Yeah. Sorry to ruin that for you.”

“Is okay, Sid.” 

They’re still standing very close on the steps and the setting sun is catching the curls at the crown of his head. 

“You stay for dinner?”

“I shouldn’t.”

“I always make too much food and get sick of it and have to throw it out.” 

“I shouldn’t. I’m sorry, I just-.”

“Don’t have to explain, Sid. If you don’t want to you don’t have to.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t want to,” Sid says and he has to feel the way his heartbeat jumps. “I just shouldn’t.”

“Okay.” It’s breathier than he wants it to be but there’s nothing he can do about it. “Maybe some other time?”

“Maybe,” Sid says as he drops off the bottom step. “I should head home.”

Geno nods and watch Sid walk away for a moment before he calls to him and Sid turns when he hears his name.

“You really think it’s a seal?” 

Sid nods, his mouth twisted into a crooked smile but it doesn’t match the look in his eyes.

“What else could it be?”


	4. Chapter 4

“So.” Jake fills up his coffee then rests his hip against the table. “What’s the deal with you and Sid?”

Geno looks up at him over the top of his sunglasses. Outdoor seating opened up at the diner last week but this is the first time it’s been warm enough in the morning to take advantage. 

“Nothing’s going on.”

“That’s not what I heard.”

“I’m sure,” Geno answers.

“I heard you’ve been bringing him presents.”

“Food. Breakfast. So what?”

“When I packed up that extra order of pancakes for you last week were those for him?”

Geno smiles. “He like.”

“Is that all he liked,” Jake leers. “Also heard that you were at the library _all day_ and you didn’t leave until well after it closed _and_ Sid walked you home.”

“How you hear that, just happen?”

Jake rolls his eyes and doesn’t bother to explain. “So are you guys together?”

“We're friends.”

“Sid doesn’t have friends.”

“But you think we’re together?”

“It looks like you are.”

“Just friends. He’s good to talk to.”

Jake snorts.

“He is. You don’t know him. Have to spend time.”

“And you like spending time with him?”

“Yeah.”

“But you’re not together.”

“Waffles,” Geno changes the subject. 

Jake goes back inside even though he looks like he wants to say something else.

Geno picks up the Perkins Bay Journal and flips to the classifieds.

*

It's a sixteen foot daysailer.

_Older, but good as new_ , the seller, Nick, tells him.

“She’s a good boat,” Nick says. “When was the last time you were out in one?”

Geno used to deep sea fish every summer but he was never the one at the helm. He's taken boats out on lakes but never the ocean. 

“Been awhile,” he says and tries to fight back the guilt he feels. Sid told him he wouldn’t take him out, not that he couldn’t do it himself. It’s not lying if he never finds out. Technically he’s not lying at all. 

Geno pays cash and will figure out the rest as he goes. 

*

He’s rusty but he takes to it quick. 

The boat is small and manageable and after a few gentle bumps against a few bigger boats in the marina he’s out in open water and feeling more comfortable. 

He hugs the shore, always keeping the coast to his left and never loses sight of it. 

It’s nothing fancy. He goes out and drops anchor off the beach in front of his house and keeps his eyes on the water. 

It’s the same thing, day after day. Sun and salt spray and clean ocean air. 

He brings a lunch and a book. He reads a page and then scans the water and waits.

He never sees a thing. 

*

On a sunny Thursday in June he falls asleep on the deck.

He wakes up just after dusk when water is splashed onto his chest. 

He bolts up and leans over the edge but the water’s too dark to see anything. 

Sailing back to the docks using only the moonlight as a guide isn’t particularly appealing, especially when his house is right there, so he jumps in and swims home, the salt water cool on his hot skin. 

*

“You’re as red as a lobster,” Jake jokes as he sets his coffee cup down on the table. “You’re supposed to use sunblock.”

“Did,” Geno grumbles, “don’t want to talk about it.”

“You need aloe.”

Geno’s hair is still wet from swimming out to the boat this morning and he’s sure he smells like low tide. He’s hungry and his skin feels tight. He hasn’t seen Sid in two weeks, he's sure Sid already knows he bought a boat and the guilt is keeping him away. He needs a lot of things.

“Yes. Know.”

Jake is a smart kid. He catches the tone and spins on his heels. 

When he comes back there’s an extra helping of bacon on his plate. 

*

“You know when I said I wouldn't bring you out I didn't mean for you to do this.”

Geno doesn't hit his head on the top of the cramped cabin but he does drop the plastic bag holding the aloe from the drugstore and his lunch from the diner. 

Sid has an armful of books and is standing on the dock in a white t-shirt and blue jeans. Ugly flip flops on his feet and Geno desperately wants to give him shit for it. 

“I brought you some books I thought you might like. I haven’t seen you in awhile.”

“Been busy.” Geno pulls his shirt over his head and doesn't miss the way Sid’s eyes scan his shoulders and chest before they settle back on his feet. He shuffles his feet against the dock. 

“That looks like it hurts.”

Geno rubs the aloe into the tops of his shoulders. “Is fine.”

“Maybe don’t fall asleep next time.”

He looks up. “How’d you know that?”

“Just assumed. You have sunscreen, right?”

“Yes, Sid,” he says in the exact same tone he used when he was ten and his mother kept telling him to be careful when playing outside. 

He caps the aloe bottle and ducks into the cabin for the sunscreen. 

“See?”

“Slather that on pretty thick.”

“Yeah, yeah. You get back?”

“What?” 

“Back.” Geno turns around and holds the lotion over his shoulder. “Can't reach. Maybe I just leave it. Burn on back so it matches the front.”

“You could just leave your shirt on.”

“No fun in that.”

Sid shakes his head with a heavy sigh and steps off the dock and onto the boat. It rocks with his weight and he puts the books down with one hand and grabs the lotion with the other. 

“If you burn on the back you won't be able to sleep at night at all.”

Geno hums then flinches when the cold lotion hits his back.

“Sorry,” Sid says quietly as he works it in, moving his hands in broad strokes up and down his skin. 

Geno tries to take his mind off how good it feels by looking down at the books that Sid brought. Four paperback and one hardcover all looking much more serious than the cheap romance novels he was forced to buy at the drugstore. How that piece of gossip didn’t spread through the town he’ll never know. 

“Thanks for the books.”

“No problem.” Sid’s fingers curl around the tops of his shoulders then the nape of his neck. “I noticed you returned most of the novels you took out and maybe you were getting tired of reading about how to fix houses.”

“Take break from that anyways.”

“You’re never going to finish it now.”

“Will to. Most important things fixed. Only little things left.”

“Those things always take the longest.”

“Work hard,” Geno defends, “deserve a break.”

“How long of a break?”

“Sound like mother.”

“Alright, you’re all set.” Sid pats his back then hands the bottle back over his shoulder for Geno to take then quietly says “I kind of missed seeing you everyday.”

Geno turns around to face him. Waves lap against the side of the boat. Sid wipes his hands against his jeans to get the last bit of sunscreen off. He’s squinting into the sun and Geno steps right in front of him to block it. 

“It’s been quiet.”

“You like quiet.”

“Well, I had kind of gotten used to you and your snoring.”

Geno tips his head back and laughs. “Fall asleep one time, never live it down.”

“Once is all it takes,” Sid says through a smile and then, suddenly serious, he adds “you’re being safe out there?”

“Almost never leave the shore.”

“Good.”

“Don’t trust?”

“I worry,” Sid says. “Find your seal yet?”

Geno shakes his head. “Find nothing. Nothing out there. Everyday, nothing.”

“Then why are you still looking?”

Geno looks out over the water, at the boats that are coming in and out, and then back to Sid. There’s sunlight on his shoulder.

“Just feels like I’m close.” 

*

He takes a picture of the sky, cloudless and light blue and posts it to instagram. 

It takes forever to upload but when he checks back five minutes later it has three thousand likes and half as many comments. 

It’s the first time the public has heard from him in six months.

He sends Tanger a picture of his feet dangling into the water.

_So you have a boat now._

_Island life._

_Don't die out there._

_You sound like Sid._

_Who is Sid?_

_Guy._

_Cute._

_Librarian._

_Like a hot one with glasses_

_No glasses._

_Then what's the point?_

* 

He brings Sid French toast and spends twenty minutes complaining about how much the sunburn is starting to itch. 

“All over, Sid,” he says as he shoves his peeling arm in front of Sid’s face. 

“It'll stop eventually,” Sid says as he bumps his arm out of the way. 

Geno pouts but picks up another new arrival. He’s pulled up a chair next to the desk and they’ve been putting green stickers on the spines of the books for the last half an hour. 

If Sid was working alone he’d probably be done by now but he hasn’t shooed him away, _yet._

“So.” Geno puts another sticker on a book. It’s off center and hangs over the side. “You know movies in center of town this weekend?” 

They’re showing The Wizard of Oz on Saturday and Splash on Sunday. 

Everyone’s hoping for no rain. Right now there’s only a 40% chance but things change so fast.

Sid takes the book from Geno and uses his thumbnail to peel off and reposition the sticker. “What about it?”

“You know, I think, maybe we go together,” Geno says slowly, carefully, watching Sid out of the corner of his eyes as he peels another sticker off the sheet. There’s a tense set to his shoulders that wasn’t there a moment ago. “Might be fun.”

“I can’t, I’m taking the boat out and heading up to Prince Edward Island for the weekend.”

“Oh. Might storm.”

Sid shrugs. “It’s not too far, I’m not really worried about it.”

“You go alone?”

“Yeah. It’s just nice to get away sometimes, you know?” He doesn’t wait for Geno to respond before he’s plucking the book from his hands. “You’re terrible at this.”

“It’s fine. You’re too picky and too stubborn.”

“I am not-.” Sid catches himself before he can fully prove Geno right and Geno smiles through the sting of rejection.

* 

It’s cloudless and sunny when Geno sets out on Saturday morning. 

He’s feeling brave so he sails out a little further and then a little further after that. 

At noon it starts to cloud over and he’s too busy trying to film a pod of dolphins that are swimming near the boat to notice the thunderhead that’s forming on the horizon. 

By the time he realizes he needs to get back to the safety of the harbor it’s already too late. 

Between the wind and the waves he can’t make any real ground towards the shore. 

He’s soaked from the rain and the ocean water that’s crashing over the sides and his arms are tired and sore from fighting with the sails and he realizes with a start that he doesn’t even know which direction the shore is anymore. 

He only has a moment of true panic- _his parents are never going to recover, his body will be lost at sea, he promised Sid and Tanger that he’d be careful_ \- and then a wave is crashing over the boat, dwarfing it, and Geno is in the water.

It’s a lot quieter beneath the waves. It’s a steady hum of noise instead of the distinct sounds of rain pelting the deck, metal against metal as pulleys bang against the mast, and thunder crashing right over head.

It all comes screaming back when he breaks the surface.

His boat is capsized and is being tossed violently in the waves but getting to it is his only hope. If he can get a hold of it and pull himself up _and_ if the storm moves quick enough he has a chance. He can’t keep treading water. Even if his leg was one hundred percent he still couldn't do it. 

Waves break over his head but he somehow makes it through. His fingertips brush the fiberglass of the boat and then he's getting yanked down. 

He can't get his legs free, his ankle is wrapped up in one of the lines and the boat is sinking. 

And he's going with it. 

He twists and tries to reach down to unwrap the line but with the way that the ocean is churning he can't reach and his lungs are starting to burn. He didn't get a very good final breath. 

Things are getting fuzzy and faded and he's not going to be able to hold his breath much longer. 

He has to be ready to black out, that's the only explanation for why he feels fingers around his his ankles and a second later an arm wrapping around his waist that’s pulling him to the surface.

The storm seems worse now, but his judgement shouldn’t be trusted.

Everything is tinted a dull yellow that fades to black and then back to yellow and he can’t hear a thing until a voice, deep and very close to his ear tells him to breathe.

He opens his mouth and gets mostly water. When he coughs he slips below but is immediately hauled back up.

He presses his face to something wet and cold but so solid and comforting and thinks that _if this is death maybe it’s not so bad._

“Geno, please,” the voice says. It's so familiar.

Geno’s head droops, face dipping into the water and he’s out of it enough to open his eyes and sees a tail. It’s undulating gracefully in the water, a sharp contract to the chaos happening above. Black and gold and shimmering even without light hitting it. 

It’s beautiful. 

If it’s the last thing he sees he considers himself lucky. 

*

There are waves lapping gently at his bare feet and there’s a long stretch of beach in front of him.

It’s littered with seaweed and drift wood brought in by the storm and there are two kids and man about a hundred yards away. 

The man is walking behind them and the kids are poking at a pile of seaweed with a stick before they move onto the next pile. 

He hasn’t been seen yet and when he opens his mouth to try to yell he ends up coughing instead. Water pours past his lips. They’re cracked and salty and when he presses his tongue to them it burns.

One of the kids looks up, stick frozen mid air, and Geno pathetically raises one of his hands towards him.

“Dad,” the kid wails and then all three of them are running towards him.

Geno flops onto his back in relief and nuzzles his head into wet sand and seaweed. He brings his hand up to his neck to thumb at the cross that’s supposed to be hanging there but finds it empty. 

The chain his missing, lost to the sea along with whoever, or whatever, it was that saved him. 


	5. Chapter 5

Sid’s sitting at the end of his bed. 

He's picking at his thumb nail with one leg tucked beneath him. 

The shades are pulled on the windows and the only light in the room is coming from the three dollar lamp Geno picked up at the church tag sale. It's horrendously tacky with seashells glued to it. 

It's bathing Sid in a warm glow. Geno could look at him forever. 

Sid looks over at him suddenly, like he could tell he was being watched, and immediately scoots up the bed to sit near his hip. 

“Hey, how are you feeling?”

Geno opens his mouth but Sid shakes his head and reaches for a glass on the nightstand. 

“Take a drink first. Your throat is probably really sore.”

He holds the straw in front of his lips and Geno moves forward enough to take a sip. 

It's cool and clean and chases away the lingering taste of salt. 

“You've been out for awhile. The doctor said that might happen. He called me right before he left.” He puts the glass back down on the table and rubs his palms over his knees. “He said you probably shouldn't wake up alone.”

“Sid-.” 

“You got so lucky,” Sid says as he leans forward to fix the pillow beneath his head. His necklace slips out of the collar of his shirt and hangs just above Geno's chest. “If the current had gone the other way that would have been it.”

“That's not-.”

“Are you hungry?” Sid forges on. “There's Gatorade in your fridge if you want that instead.”

“Sid.”

“You're supposed to take it easy for a few days.”

“Sid, have to tell you something.”

“And I won't even tell you _I told you so_ until you're feeling better. Now what about food? Your fridge looked a little bare but I could figure something out.”

“Sid, stop,” Geno snaps, voice coming back to full strength and he winces. “Have to tell you something. It wasn't the current that saved me.”

Sid settles back down on the bed and twists his hands together. “What are you talking about?”

“Wasn't current. I went over and my foot got caught in one of the lines. It was pulling me under but then…”

“Then what?”

Geno sighs and finally makes eye contact with Sid. “Mermaid.”

Sid’s eyes go wide and his body goes completely still, like he's frozen. 

“I know it sounds crazy, I know. But…...mermaid.”

Sid stares at him and Geno stares back until Sid shakes his head and reaches a hand out towards Geno’s head.

“Did you hit your head when you fell overboard,” he asks and Geno bats his hand away. “Head injuries are really serious.”

“I know about head injuries.”

“Do I need to call the doctor back because I will.”

“Didn’t hit my head, I know what I saw. My foot got stuck in a line when I got too close to the boat and started to pull me under but then something came and brought me back to the surface. Told me to breathe. Knew my name. Must have brought me to shore.” He pauses then says breathlessly, “beautiful.”

Geno watches Sid’s throat work as he swallows. “You saw it?”

“Him. Just the tail. Sid, it was beautiful. Prettiest thing I’ve ever seen. He saved me. Wasn’t the current and it wasn’t luck.”

“Geno-.”

“Okay if you don’t believe me but I know what I saw.”

“You were in shock,” Sid tries to explain, voice gentle and caring and Geno shakes his head.

“It’s the same thing I’ve been seeing in the water.”

“Geno.” Sid takes a deep breath through his nose, eyes closed and lips pinched tight. “Listen. Your body was shock from the cold water.” He raises his voice just slightly at the last word when he sees Geno try to argue. “You had so much adrenaline going and you weren’t getting enough oxygen so your mind started to make things up. You started to see things that weren’t really there. Did you ever feel like you were going to pass out?”

Geno nods, thinking of his vision going yellow and black, how the tail he saw was black and gold.... 

“You got lucky. You got your foot free and made it to the surface and a current brought you back to shore. It was luck.” His face twists up to into something that Geno would call amusement if it didn’t look so forced. “It wasn’t a mermaid, your mind made it up. Okay?”

Slowly, Geno says “I didn’t make it up” and Sid is off the bed and out the bedroom door, shaking his head the whole while. 

Geno stays in bed, expecting to hear the front door slam but instead hears the fridge open and a pot being placed on the stove.

He waits another few minutes for his own frustrations to burn off before he gets himself out of bed. 

Every muscle screams and he takes a moment to collect himself before he limps his way down the hall towards the kitchen.

Sid is standing standing at the stove stirring something with a wooden spoon. 

Geno leans against the door frame and watches, taking pressure off his leg. 

“You had soup in the fridge,” Sid says without turning around. “Hope that’s okay.”

“Fine,” Geno says. It’s made from vegetables he bought fresh at the farm stand. It’s been sitting in the fridge for a few days and if Sid wasn’t heating it up for him he probably would have tossed it in a few more. 

“Where do you keep the bowls?”

“Cabinet in the corner,” Geno answers as he pulls out a chair and sits down at the table.

Sid taps the spoon against the pot three times before sets it down and opens the cabinet. 

The knob comes off in his hand and Geno gives him a sheepish smile.

“Still some things I need to fix.”

“You think?” He puts down the knob and knocks his foot against the table which rocks back and forth. He plucks a ladle from the jar on the stove and fills the bowl halfway. 

When he puts it down on the table Geno has to hold it steady so the bowl doesn't slide. 

“Don't have to stay here,” Geno says, “I’m fine.”

Sid shrugs then crosses his arms over his chest. 

“It’s okay if you don’t believe me.”

“I don’t believe you,” Sid says and Geno shakes his head at the curtness of it. “I believe that you believe you saw it.”

“Him,” Geno corrects. “Not it.”

Sid rolls his eyes and Geno laughs softly around the spoon his mouth. He was the one that was rescued by a mermaid and Sid is still able to be the dramatic one.

“You shouldn’t tell anyone else about this, you know, around town.”

“They’ll tell me I’m crazy?”

“Not to your face, but people will talk. Do you want that?”

Geno came here to get away from talk and town gossip about trivial things is one thing. He doesn’t need to purposefully add this.

“Won’t say anything.”

“Good.” Sid takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly between his teeth. “That’s good.”

He traces a fingertip over the deep grooves in the wood and Geno takes one more spoonful of soup before deciding he’s done. 

It’s too hot for soup anyways. 

It’s stuffy and the stale air makes him sweat. There aren’t any windows open in the house and he can’t remember if he shut them before he left yesterday or if Sid closed them when he came in. 

There’s still salt clinging to his skin and his hair and he needs a shower but the thought of being in the water makes his breath stutter and then he can’t catch it and everything that’s happened to him, the accident on the ice, the surgeries, moving, his near death experience, hits him all at once. 

He drops the spoon and it clatters against the bowl before it hits the table.

His hands feel clumsy and useless as he presses them to his eyelids so tight he sees spots. 

There are fingers around his wrists and then an arm around his shoulder and he finds himself crying into the fabric of Sid’s t-shirt.

“Breathe,” Sid says as he rubs his hand up and down Geno’s arm. “Breathe, it’s okay. Please, Geno.”

It sounds exactly like a voice he’s heard before, the one that saved him and he finally gets what Sid was saying.

It’s so easy for your mind to make things up when it’s in distress.

* 

“I can’t believe you almost died,” Tanger says, “especially when I told you not to.”

“You tell me not to die and I didn’t.”

“Barely.” 

“It was bad,” he admits as he sits down on the bottom porch step. It’s drizzling and he presses his bare feet against the cool stone. “Cry all over Sidney.”

“He was there?”

“When I woke up and then for a little while after.”

Sid stayed until he calmed down and stood outside the bathroom door while he showered, shampooing his hair twice to get the salt and sand out. 

Tanger makes a considering noise. “That was nice of him.”

“It's. I don't know.”

“What's not to know? Sounds like he likes you. That's a good thing. That's a really good thing.” 

Geno knows Kris has been worried about him. 

“Sid is….hot and cold. Don’t really know much about him. Don't know what he thinks of me most of the time. Good or bad.”

“He waited around while you slept to make sure you were okay. That's good.”

“Guess so.”

“You like him?”

“He’s…..yeah,” he admits and feels a weight lift off him. “Like him a lot.”

“Then you should do something about it. This could be really good for you.”

“You worry too much.”

“Someone has to.”

“Have mama for that.”

“Just ask him out.” Tanger says. “You'll feel better if you do.”

“Think about it,” he says and Tanger sighs heavily. 

“If I have to come all the way out there and do it for you I will.”

“Don’t threaten-.” He stops himself when he sees Sid coming down his driveway with an arm full of groceries. “Have to go.”

“Why? What’s the matter?”

Geno hangs and Sid stops five feet in front of him. His hair and shirt are damp and the bags look heavy. 

“I brought food,” he says. “Your fridge looked kind of empty and I don’t know if you’ve been up to getting out....I don’t know. Do you want it or not?”

“Bad at this, Sid,” Geno says as he stands and reaches for the bags.

“I never said that I was good.”

He follows Geno into the house and stands awkwardly in the kitchen while Geno puts the food away. Bread, peanut butter, dried pasta, cold cuts, different fruits and vegetables, and a small bag of chocolate chip cookies that Geno leaves out on the counter.

“People were asking about you. I told them you were doing okay.”

“You talked to people?”

“I _can_ talk to people, you know,” Sid says through a scowl as he pulls on the the handle of the silverware drawer just to have something to do. It doesn’t come off in his hand like the one on the cabinet but it’s close. “Do you have a screwdriver?”

“I have new hardware for everything. Don’t bother.”

“Where is all of that? I’ll do it.”

“I can do it, Sid.”

“Maybe but you won't.”

“Don't know that. Rude.”

Sid gives him an unimpressed look and Geno knows well enough by now not to fight with him once he has his mind set to something. 

He makes a sandwich and pretends to read a magazine while he watches Sid move down line fixing each drawer and cabinet. 

*

Geno leaves the house and lets the townspeople fawn all over him. 

He gets hugs and handshakes and Jake looks at him like he’s looking at a ghost.

“Stop staring,” Geno tells him. 

“Sorry,” he says but it takes him a moment to advert his eyes. “I’ve just never been this close to someone who’s almost died before.”

“How you know that? Maybe they just didn’t tell you?”

Jake’s eyes go so wide that Geno laughs all through breakfast. 

*

Sid is on the phone when he gets to the library so he sets the container of baklava and sweetened iced tea down and heads back through the aisles.

It’s better this way. He’s not ashamed of what he’s looking for but it would be better without the chirps from Sid. He’s been here enough he’s sure he can find it on his own. 

“What are you looking for?”

Geno presses his hand over his heart. “How you so quiet?”

“Why are you sneaking around?”

“You know.” Geno shrugs one shoulder. “Just looking.”

“For what? Why don’t you let me help?”

“You know, it’s nothing.”

“Geno.”

Sid has that look on his face like he’s going to get what he wants and Geno is helpless to fight it. 

“Fine. Looking for books about mermaids.”

_“Geno.”_

“Just want to read, you know, it’s interesting.”

“It’s dumb.”

“C’mon. Just for fun. Give me something to do.”

“You should be home painting your house. The peeling paint makes it look awful.”

“Mean today, Sid. I bring you baklava and you say this to me.”

Sid pushes him out of the aisle. “Go sit down. I’ll bring you something.”

Geno’s is just settling in at the table when Sid drops a _Little Mermaid_ coloring book in front of him along with a handful of crayons.

He stares at it and then up at Sid who is doing a terrible job at hiding his grin. 

“It was in the lost and found. It’s fate.”

“Not funny, Sid.”

“It’s kind of funny.”

Geno shoves the coloring book towards him and Sid catches it before it falls off the edge.

“Do you have books or not?”

Sid rolls his eyes good-naturedly. “Hold on.”

He comes back a short while later and sets three dusty books down by his elbow and 

Geno cracks open one on top and gets lost in it.

There are stories from Greece and Scotland and Ireland. China and Africa. Tale after tale of sailors catching glimpses of beautiful women in the waves or singing to lure ships close to land where they’d break apart against the rocks. 

Every culture seems to have it’s own tale and there have been sightings for centuries.

“Did you find anything good?” 

When Geno looks up Sid’s standing in front of him holding the container of baklava in one hand and licking honey off his fingers of the other. 

Geno forgets everything he’s read.

Sid drags his index finger out from between his lips, wipes his hand on the back of his jeans and sits down. 

“About your mermaid, did you find anything good?” He slides the container over as Geno shoves the book at him, still trying to get his brain and mouth to work together.

“Merman,” he stutters out. “He’s a merman.”

“I see,” Sid says quietly as he flips the pages. 

Geno shoves a piece of baklava in his mouth just to have something to do. 

“Sailors see them for centuries,” he says with a full mouth, “see them in every ocean. Don’t age like humans. Beautiful.” 

“ _Mermen_ ,” Sid reads, “ _are usually wilder and uglier than mermaids and have little interest in humans_.” He frowns down at the page.

“Read that, it’s not true. My merman is beautiful.”

“But you said you didn’t see his face.”

“Didn’t have to. He rescued me, I know he’s beautiful.”

Sid clears his throat and continues to turn the pages. “You know most of these sightings are actually manatees or sea-cows. It’s just misidentifications. The sailors didn’t know any better.”

“There are recent sightings too. 1886 off the coast of Cape Breton. That isn’t far from here.”

“And 1886 isn’t recent.”

“1967, in British Columbia, people on a ferry see mermaid sitting on the rocks eating a fish.”

“That’s the other side of the country.”

“They see mermaid there why can’t I see merman here?” He taps his fingers against one of the older books. “It says they call sailors to the shore and make their ships sink. You told me there are shipwrecks off the coast.”

“It’s because the shoreline is unpredictable and the weather can change so fast. You know that first hand.”

“Ocean is really big, Sid, a lot we don’t know.”

“I’m not arguing about that.”

“You argue just to argue,” Geno snaps and Sid laughs at him, sudden and loud.

“I was thinking," Sid says once he's settled down, "maybe if you needed more help around your house I could come by and help.”

“You really want to help me?”

“Someone has to or it’ll never get done.”

Geno flips him off and Sid laughs again as Francis and Fiona Milbury, sisters in their seventies who come in every other week to check out the latest James Patterson novel, _and also Sid,_ come through the front doors and Sid gets up to help them.

“Anytime you want,” Geno says, “you can come over.”

*

Sid shows up at his house after work and early on the weekends. 

Geno wakes up to the sound of a teakettle whistling and Sid leaning against the counter in his kitchen with his feet crossed at the ankles. 

He helps with the odds and ends that if Geno were to be honest with himself, probably wouldn’t get done without Sid being there to push.

The table stops wobbling with a cork from a wine bottle that Sid carefully cuts into disks and puts under the leg. 

The closet in the bathroom closes fully and the trim on the windows get painted white with the help of Sid’s steady hand. 

It takes the two of them an entire weekend to paint the exterior of the house with Geno on a ladder and Sid carefully trying to avoid the flowers that have already been planted beneath the windows.

Sid winds up with Mallard Green paint in his hair and on the back of his shirt and a large streak across his cheekbone that Geno wants to rub away with his thumb. 

He grips the brush and paint tray as tight as he can to keep his hands to himself but it does nothing to stop him from opening his mouth.

“Stay for dinner tonight. House is almost done because of you. I’ll cook, say thank you.”

“Can you actually cook anything?”

“Yes. You give me Russian cookbook, remember. Best. I’ll show you.”

“Let me go home and change first.”

“Look fine, Sid.”

He huffs a laugh like he doesn’t believe him. He has paint everywhere and his jeans are a little dirty but he’s wonderful.

“What time is dinner?”

“Six.”

“I’ll be here.”

*

Geno is more nervous about dinner than he has been for any playoff game. 

He changes shirts three times and manages to burn the vegetables on the grill while he's busy worrying about if this is a date or not. 

He's scraping off the extra charred parts when Sid knocks on the door. 

“Come in,” Geno yells as he doubles down on the scraping. “Why’d you knock? Always barge in.”

When he turns around Sid’s standing in the doorway in jeans and a light blue button down with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He's holding a jar full of sea glass and little shells and looks as nervous as Geno feels. 

“Look good.” 

A splash of color blooms on his cheeks. “Thanks." He holds the jar out. “I've been collecting stuff and I thought….I don't know. You'd like to have it. I can take it back.”

Geno holds it close to his chest. “No. It's mine. I love it. Thank you, Sid. Jar looks like sea glass too. You find the whole thing on the beach.”

“You'd be surprised at what you can find out there.” He says as Geno puts the jar on the shelf above the sink. “The house really looks great.”

“Because of you.”

“I wouldn’t have taken a chance on this house in the first place.”

“Glad I did.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Sid doesn’t look like he’s embarrassed by what he’s said or like he wants to take it back. He doesn’t even look away from him until he says “Is something burning,” and Geno has to run through the house to the grill to get the fish off.

They eat at the kitchen table, that no longer wobbles, and even though there are moments where Geno wants to stretch his leg out and hook his foot around Sid’s ankle, he keeps his feet to himself.

Sid helps clean up after dinner and whips cream for the strawberry shortcake that Geno has for dessert. He adds too much sugar and doesn’t seem sorry about it. Geno would never ask him to apologize anyways.

They eat dessert out on the front porch sitting with their chairs turn towards each other. 

Sid swings his foot as Geno talks about how he wants to plant an apple tree but doesn’t know if he can wait that long for it to produce fruit.

“Not very patient,” he says as he scoops the last dredges of cream out of the bowl with his finger. Then takes Sid’s almost empty bowl and puts it down on the table between them.

“Come on, have to take a walk or I get lazy.”

Geno takes his shoes off and walks in the water. 

Sid keeps his own and walks just above the waterline. 

Waves curl around his ankles as the breeze tousles his hair. 

Behind him Sid is flattening a patch of sand with the tip of his shoe. 

“Have you seen your merman in awhile?”

Geno smiles at the phrasing. _His merman._ “No. Not since he rescued me. Miss him sometimes.”

Sid cuts him off. “Why would you miss him?”

Geno shrugs. “I guess when I first get here I was all alone in this empty house. He was like a friend.”

“But you made real friends so quickly.”

“Well, took time to wear you down,” he teases. “It was like, someone to come home to,” Geno admits quietly. “Stupid.”

“It’s not stupid. It sounds nice. But maybe you could get a dog or a cat. Whatever one you like more.”

“Like both,” he says then throws a hand behind him towards Sid. “Come here. Take off shoes, the water feels nice.”

Sidney stares at him and just when Geno's about to pull back with an apology on his lips he reaches out. 

Geno goes willingly when Sid tugs him out of the water. 

Sid’s fingers are cool and dry against the side of his face but his lips are warm against his own. 

Sid tastes like strawberries and sugar and behind that just the faintest hint of saltwater. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have some fluff.

It's a long journey back to the house.

They trip a few times, not willing to stop kissing and groping long enough to watch where they're going.

Sid ends up hauling Geno to his feet and doesn't let him do anything more than hold his hand as he leads him towards the house.

Once inside Geno immediately tries to get Sid’s shirt over his head.

“It's a button down, Geno. You can't just yank it over my head.”

“Stupid shirt, Sid. Get rid of it.”

“You liked it fine when I came in here.”

“Changed my mind. Get it off.”

Sid rolls his eyes and makes a show of slowly sliding the buttons through the holes.

Geno keeps his hands on Sid’s hips as he works the shirt off his shoulders and shakes his arms free. They slide beneath his t-shirt as soon as Sid drapes the button down over the back of the couch and Geno tries to yank the tee right over his head.

It gets tangled at his elbows which only makes Geno more desperate to get it off.

“Geno, wait, wait wait wait.” Sid’s laughing as he says it, voice muffled by the fabric, but Geno drops his hands anyways and the shirt hangs around Sid’s neck.

“I just want to say.” He pauses and gets his head through the opening of the shirt and drops it at his feet.

Geno’s not sure where to look first.

The dip of his collar bone.

The smattering of dark hair on his chest.

The freckles at the tops of his shoulders.

He takes a slow sweep of everything and lands back on his face, but that's good too.

Flushed with wet, red lips.

“I haven't done this in awhile so if-.”

“Okay, Sid,” Geno says. He's desperate for this to go right. “We can slow down. Talk. Take you out for dinner for real.”

Sid looks confused. “No, I'm just warning you that if this is over quick that's why. I can do better.”

“You think this could be bad?”

“Just a warning.”

Geno shakes his head and hooks his fingers through Sid’s belt loops.

“They right about you, Sid. You are weird.”

Sid laughs as Geno pulls him back towards the bedroom.

 

It's not as funny in there.

Not when they've both got their shirts and pants off and Geno is flat on his back on the bed with his legs hanging off the edge.

Sid stands between his knees then props one of Geno's legs up so his foot is on the bed. He looks down at him and runs a feather light touch over the surgery scar there.

Geno probably wouldn't even feel it if he wasn't so keyed up. Right now he feels everything.

“What do you want,” Sid asks.

Geno _wants_ to drag his fingers across Sid’s abs and up his chest. He wants to hold the skin warmed stone that hanging from Sid’s neck against his palm as he pulls him in for one kiss after another. He wants to kiss every inch of him. Touch every inch of him.

Sid’s fingers are still moving on his knee. “What do you like?”

Geno answers “you” and lets it mean everything.

Sid bows his head, chin resting against his chest and takes a deep breath.

When he looks up his eyes are hooded.

“Okay,” he says then smooths his hand against Geno’s knee and up his thigh.

 

Fifteen minutes later Geno has both hands braced against the headboard as Sid lies between his thighs.

He’s been sucking bruising kisses into the thin skin of his inner thigh while he strokes him with one hand and works him open with the other.

Geno's in heaven.

He has missed this.

The stretch of three fingers, teeth nipping at his skin and a hot tongue soothing away the sting from the bites.

He's warm all over. There's sweat beading at his hairline and at the now subtle cut of his hips and abs. Sid’s movements are slow and sure Geno thinks he could stay just like this for the rest of the night until Sid twists his fingers a new way and palms the head of his cock and he's right on the edge.

“Sid.”

His hand flies off the headboard to the back of Sid’s neck.

Sid stills both his hands and lifts his lips from his skin.

“Gonna come like this.”

Sid nods and licks his lips and Geno squeezes his eyes shut because that's not helping.

“Do you want to?”

Geno shakes his head. Not right now. Not the first time.

 

He comes with Sid buried deep inside him, with his heels digging into the small of his back.

Geno breaks a kiss to say Sid’s name and Sid speeds up and changes the angle of his thrusts just enough and that's it.

Geno's coming, back arching beneath Sid and curling his toes.

He brushes Sid’s hair off his face and scratches his nails against his scalp.

“C’mon, Sid, so good.”

Sid hitches Geno’s leg up to his hip and drops his face to the crook of Geno’s neck to stifle his groan as he comes.

“Good,” Geno says as he pets at Sid’s hair and down his back. “So good. How could you ever think could be bad?”

Sid lifts his head just enough to rest his cheek on Geno’s shoulder and laughs. Hot breath hits the side of Geno’s neck.

“Heavy,” Geno says. “Up, I’ll clean up.”

Sid pushes himself up. “I’ll clean up. You can’t move.”

“Is good thing, Sid,” Geno says after Sid gets up with a smile on his face.

Geno matches it as he watches him walk into the bathroom.

He comes back with a damp washcloth, cooler than Geno would like and Sid pinches his hip when he complains.

“Just drop it on the floor. Come to bed.”

Sid makes a disapproving noise and goes to toss it in the hamper.

When he comes back Geno's spread out on the bed with his eyes closed. He holds his hand palm up and curls his fingers and Sid takes the hint and crawls in beside him.

Geno’s arm is draped across the pillow so Sid rests his head on his bicep and Geno turns to his side and throws a leg over Sid’s hips.

“You think you could do better than that?” Geno mumbles into his hair and Sid settles deeper into the mattress.

“I could try.”

Geno laughs and cracks open one eye.

Sid’s necklace is resting directly over his heart.

His hand is halfway to it when Sid catches it and holds tight, not letting go when Geno tries to pull away.

“Sorry.”

“No.” Sid brings his hand the rest of the way and sets it down over the pendant. Geno’s sure he can feel his heartbeat through the stone. “I know you have questions about me. I’d like to answer them if you want to ask.”

“Family.”

Sid frowns then says “that’s not really a question,” and Geno pushes his thigh more firmly across Sid’s waist, like that’s going to be a punishment. The only thing it does is give Sid a reason to cup his hand over his kneecap and brush his thumb back and forth.

“Did you get this from your family,” Geno clarifies. “Parents?”

“Yes. Like a parting gift," Sid answers bluntly. 

“You don’t see them?”

“Not for a long time,” Sid says quietly and Geno freezes when he realizes what those words could mean. 

“They’re still….” Geno stops and tries to frame this the right way and decides that cutting to the quick is the right away. “They’re still alive.”

“Yeah,” Sid says quickly. “I’m pretty sure.”

“You don’t know?”

“I’m sure someone would try to tell me. They don’t know where I am. It’s easier this way.”

“You just leave them?”

“We wanted different things. He turns his head towards Geno’s neck, lips barely touching his skin. “I don’t regret it.”

“I had necklace too, from grandparents. Supposed to keep me safe. Didn't work so well."

“You're alive.”

“Luck, you say.”

Sid hums.

“Came off in water. Clasp always a little loose.” He pushes himself up on one elbow so he can look down at Sid. He looks tired but happy and he traces the sharp line of his cheekbone with his fingertip. “You know, my parents are back in Russia. Whole family. Most of my friends. They want me to come home, instead I come here. Don’t think they’re happy with me but..." He shrugs. 

“You ever think you'll go back?”

Geno makes a considering noise and moves his hand down Sid’s neck. Stubble scratches at his palm. 

“Don't know. Pretty happy here.” There's a mark blooming at the base of Sid's throat. “Nice views.”

“It is a pretty island,” Sid answers. “Wait until you see it in the fall.”

“Can't wait.”

Sid twists and presses a kiss to Geno's shoulder.

*

Geno wakes an empty bed.

Sid’s pants and shoes aren’t on his floor.

His t-shirt and button down aren’t in the living room.

There’s no note on the counter or stuck to the fridge.

The house is empty and quiet and the breeze that’s coming through the window is making him shiver.

With no one to keep him warm he shuts it and tries to go back to sleep.

*

He stays home the next day, not trusting his attitude to not snap at anyone.

He's moody and upset at himself. One night stands aren't something he's unfamiliar with but he wasn't looking for that this time.

He didn't think Sid was either.

It takes him the whole day to come to the decision that he needs to sell his house and move.

He’ll settle down in a town with a diner that he likes and a librarian that he's not attracted to that won't break his heart.

He's closing up for the night when Sid shows up at his door.

“I'm sorry,” Sid says and he looks it. “That was awful. I didn't even leave a note or anything.”

“It's fine, Sid. Don't have to stay. Maybe we go too fast after all. Maybe I go too fast, ask too many questions. One time time thing, is fine”

“No, no. It wasn't a one time thing.” Sid puts his hand on Geno’s arm and slowly slides it down to his wrist. “It's got nothing to do with you. It's got nothing to do with us.”

“There's an us?”

Geno rolls his wrist in Sid’s fingers and Sid holds his hand.

“If you want there to be.”

“Yes. Want.” He tips his head back towards the kitchen. “Hungry. Have leftovers.”

Sid’s smile is shy but his actions are bold when he trails a free hand up Geno's chest and wraps it around the back of his neck to drag him down for a kiss.

“Food later, okay?”

“Later,” Sid says as he slips past him, still holding his hand and pulling him down the hall. “Much later.”

 

They do eat.

It's an hour and a half later after they take each other apart in the bedroom and the shower and then again in bed.

“Killing me, Sid,” Geno says as Sid slowly kisses his way down his body, teeth scraping against his nipple. “How you ready to go again? Not human.”

Geno can feel the smile on Sid’s lips as he kisses his way across his chest to take the other in his mouth.

 

Now they're both barefoot in boxers as Geno reheats chicken in the microwave.

Sid looks happily sated at the kitchen table with one foot propped up on the chair and messy hair. He looks carefree but there's guilt eating at Geno.

He waits until Sid has taken his first bite before he says anything.

“Have to tell you something. Haven’t been totally honest with you. Have my own secrets, start to feel guilty.”

Sid stops chewing. “What,” he asks, slightly garbled around a mouthful of chicken.

“Used to play hockey in Pittsburgh. For the Penguins. You know, NHL. Famous. Got hurt in a game and can’t play anymore so I come here. Should have told you before.”

Sid starts chewing again and then swallows. “I already knew all that.”

“What?”

“What do you mean, _what?_ I know things are a little slower around here but it’s still Canada and that’s still hockey.”

“So everyone know?”

“I would imagine.”

“No one say anything.”

“They’re respecting your privacy, for once in their lives," he says under his breath. "But everyone knows. I told you, as soon as you step foot on this island everyone knows everything about you.”

“No one knows anything about you. Big mystery.”

“You know about me.”

“Yeah. Little bit.” He sits down in the chair beside him and steals a forkful of food. “You’re not mad?”

“Why would I be?”

“I lied.”

“You didn’t lie. You just didn’t tell me.”

“There’s a word for that.”

“Omission.” He knocks his foot against Geno’s. “Don’t worry about it. I’m not mad.”

Geno puts his hand on Sid’s wrist. He presses his thumb to his pulse point.

“Very understanding boyfriend.”

Sid’s eyes flick up from the plate at the word.

“I’m trying.”

*

The first time Geno actually takes Sid _out_ , it’s two weeks after their first time.

And it’s only to the diner.

Sid doesn't stay the night often.

He usually comes over after work. They'll cook dinner and talk and wind up fooling around and Sid will wait until Geno's ready to fall asleep before he untucks himself from beneath his arm and gets dressed.

He always kisses him goodbye with his fingertips pressing lightly into the back of his neck, a steady and warm pressure.

“Stay,” Geno says, eyes still closed. “Late.”

“I know but I gotta go.”

Geno groans and Sid kisses the back of his head before he leaves.

But sometimes he'll show up just as Geno's getting ready for bed. Sid will have damp hair and a smile on his face right before he kisses him up against the front door.

On those nights Geno will wake up and turn over in bed, always expecting to find it empty, always surprised when it isn't.

Sid will be lying beside him with his face buried in the pillow and moonlight falling across his back.

Geno knows it’s too early to say _I love you_ but it doesn’t stop him from thinking it.

He still thinking about it in the morning when he takes the cereal box out of Sid’s hand and kisses him against the stove and convinces him to go out for breakfast.

When he sits across from Sid in the booth and watches him examine the menu for twenty minutes before ordering scrambled eggs and toast and then steals half of the waffle on his plate.

“Told you you could order whatever you wanted,” he says as he fights off Sid’s fork with his own. “Know you have sweet tooth, get your own waffles.”

“I just wanted a bite.”

“Big bite, Sid.”

Sid raises an eyebrow and Geno’s face starts to heat as he remembers the night before. The bite to his shoulder that pushed him over the edge. He’s sure that when he twists in the mirror later to get a good look at it there will be a mark.

Jake comes over with the bill before he can defend himself.

He’s giving Sid the same bewildered look he’s had on his face since they both walked in together and Geno has to pluck the piece of paper from between his fingers to get him to go away.

“Why is he so surprised that we’re getting breakfast together?” Sid whispers.

“Not surprised we’re together,” Geno says with a shake of his head.. “Already thought we were together. Surprised to see you here. No one in town ever sees you. Like seeing tiger outside of zoo.”

“He already thought we were together?”

Geno pulls out his wallet and slips a few bills under his coffee cup for Jake. “I come in here a lot, I bring you food, I’m maybe not so….” he searches for the words, “maybe I’m not so good at hiding how I feel.”

“You’re obvious.”

Geno shrugs one shoulder.

“How long have you felt like this?”

“I see you in the library that first time and I think, maybe wasn’t a mistake coming here.”

Sid looks like he’s glowing and Geno thinks _I love you_ right then as well.

 

Geno walks with him to the library.

Halfway there he takes Sid’s hand and then drops it.

There are other people on the street and gossip about them already being together is a lot different from having concrete proof.

“It’s fine,” Sid says as he reaches for Geno’s hand. “You said people already think we’re together so it’s not a big deal.”

“Not a big deal,” Geno repeats. “So romantic, Sid.”

Sid’s answer is to push him against the nearest tree then lean up on his toes to kiss him.

The bark is rough against his back but all Geno can think about, can feel, is Sid’s the faintest taste of maple on his lips and his chest pressed up against his own. The way they’re still holding hands.

Geno rests his head against the tree when Sid eases away.

He looks incredibly smug and Geno can only add to it when he sighs his name and touches his thumb to the sharp hinge of his jaw. “Can’t believe you’re real sometimes.”

Sid squeezes his hand. “I’m real. Promise.”

*

They spend the weekends together. Just the two of them.

Sid sleeps over and then takes forever to wake.

Geno is showered and through two cups of tea and scratching a note onto the grocery list that hangs on the fridge to pick up more when Sid finally comes into the kitchen.

“Your bed is so comfortable,” he says through a stretch and a yawn.

His hair is a mess and there are pillow lines on his face and he doesn’t care that Geno doesn’t care that he still has morning breath when Sid puts down hands on his face and kisses him.

Geno’s happy to be lazy and watch Sid flit around the house.

He weeds the garden and picks strawberries and raspberries and tells Geno that if he doesn’t cover the blueberries the birds will get them all.

Geno waves a hand. “Birds have to eat something.”

“Yeah but-.”

Geno’s waving hand catches Sid’s and he manhandles him down to straddle his lap.

The bowl of fruit slips from his grip and hits the deck.

Geno licks his way into Sid’s mouth to make sure he doesn’t care.

 

He's so into Sid, so distracted by him and swept up in him that he forgets about his merman.

Sid catches him the first time he looks.

He steps out onto the deck while Geno is sitting on the front steps and staring out over the water. Sid hands the mug of tea over and sits down beside him.

“You’re still looking for him?”

Geno shrugs, not willing to admit that he’s been caught. “Just looking.”

Sid gives him a sad smile before taking a sip from his own mug.

He doesn’t lean into Geno’s space like he normally does.

 

It’s days later when Sid brings it up again.

They’re laying perpendicular to each other in bed, naked and tired. Geno has his head on the one pillow that survived their romp and Sid has his on Geno’s stomach.

He doesn’t think Sid will stay the night and he’s enjoying the moment the best he can before Sid tells him he has to go.

“What would you say to him if you saw him again?”

It takes a second to figure out who he’s talking about.

“Don’t know. Thank him for saving me. Why you care? Don’t even think he’s real.”

“Just wanted to know if I should be jealous or not?”

Geno sinks his hand into Sid’s hair, soft but a little sweaty, and Sid sighs and pushes into it.

“He would be jealous of you.”

Sid cranes his neck to look up at him then turns and pushes himself up on his knees for a kiss.

It’s followed by another, slow and deep and they rest their forehead against each other when they part.

Geno has a hand holding tight to Sid’s side when he says “stay tonight.”

Sid closes his eyes and nods.


	7. Chapter 7

“You know, was thinking.”

Sid’s standing above him as Geno sits cross legged on the ground with a puppy in his lap.

There's an adoption event in the center of town and Geno took one look at Jeffrey with his wrinkly face and sad eyes and fell in love for the second time on this island.

He’s been on the ground with him for the past forty minutes while Sid has been gently reminding him how much puppies chew and dig and how he’s going to scratch his wood floor with his nails.

Geno has been waving him off, mind already made up and moved on to a new idea.

“I was thinking maybe it’s time to invite one of my friends to come see me. Teammate. Old teammate,” he amends and focuses on scratching Jeffrey behind his ears so he doesn’t have to see the way Sid’s face goes soft. “Miss him.”

“I think that’s a great idea.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. It’s been awhile, hasn’t it? I bet he misses you too.”

“I know he worried in the beginning. Show him everything’s okay now. I’m okay.”

“I know I’ve been a little….clingy lately, but I can make myself scarce for a few days or however long he’s here for. Give you two some time to catch up.”

“Scarce? What? No.” Geno gets himself to his feet, tucking Jeffrey beneath one arm. “No, want you two to meet.”

“Oh.”

“Both very important to me. If that’s okay?”

Geno knows how weighted this is. This might be as close to meeting the parents are either of them will ever get.

“Yes,” Sid says and then with more conviction adds, “if you want me there then yes.”

“Want you,” Geno says. “We all have dinner together. You, me, Jeffrey, and Tanger.”

Sid’s eyes widen just enough for Geno to catch. “Tanger. So that’s Letang?”

“Yeah, we’re close. You seen him play?”

“I mean, I know who he is.”

Geno stares.

Sid has a patch of red high on his cheeks.

“You have crush.”

“No.” Sid’s cheeks are set aflame. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Is okay. Don’t know anyone who doesn't think he’s handsome. Maybe most handsome on team, after me of course.”

“He’s fine,” Sid stutters, “I don’t have a crush, why would I? That’s…” He heaves a deep sigh and quickly changes the subject, taking one of Jeffrey’s paws in his hand. Jeffrey tries to nip at him. “Have you seen the size of his feet? He’s going to be huge.”

Geno laughs and kisses him, chaste and sweet. “Big dogs are the best.” He kisses him once more then transfers Jeffrey into his arms. “You’re cute too. Hold him. I’m go talk to someone.”

Sid’s right, Jeffrey is going to be huge.

“But a real sweetheart,” the volunteer tells him. “Very loyal. You’re going to love him.”

Geno takes the packet of information from her and looks over at Sid.

Jeffrey has fallen asleep in his arms and Sid is holding him like a baby and shifting his weight back and forth, like he’s rocking him.

“Already do.”

*

Tanger gets in on a drizzly Tuesday morning.

Geno waits for him down by the docks with Jeffrey winding his leash around his legs.

It’s quiet down by the docks.

The rain is supposed to get worse before it gets better and the local fishermen don’t want to chance the storm.

It makes it easy to spot Tanger’s boat coming in and even easier to see him stepping off of it.

He has a baseball cap pulled down low and a black windbreaker on and as soon as he steps onto dry land he drops his duffel bag then drops to the ground beside it so Jeffrey can lick his face.

“Dog more important than me?”

Tanger holds Jeffrey's face in his hands and Jeffrey wiggles happily.

“Dog is much cuter than you.”

“No one cuter than me,” Geno grumbles and Tanger kisses Jeffrey's head. “I have to lie here for a moment, it got choppy out there.”

“Have to find your sea legs."

“I did better than you. I managed to stay inside of the boat.”

“Glad we can joke about that now,” Geno says flatly and Tanger laughs and pushes himself to his feet.

He pulls Geno into a hug, clapping his back a few times before he lets go.

*

Jake dries the chairs and the table on the sidewalk for the two of them with a dishrag so they can sit outside with Jeffrey who curls up on Geno’s feet as soon as he sits down.

Jake looks at Tanger the same way he looked at Sidney when he came in and trips over his feet on his way inside to get coffee.

“Starstruck,” Geno explains once Jake has gathered himself and the door closes behind him.

“Of me? He knows who I am?”

“Probably. Everyone knows who I am. Just don’t know that I know.”

“Is it okay that I’m here? They’re not going to post a picture of us together and people will figure it out, are they? I know you still don’t want people knowing where you are.”

“Just want some privacy for now,” he explains. “Maybe in a few years things will change for me.”

“But they won’t tell right now?”

“They talk to each other all the time but never anyone else. It’s fine.”

Tanger hums and Geno finally decides to ask what’s been on his mind for months.

“How are things-.” He stops before he can say _back home_. Pittsburgh was his home for so long and Russia before that. Now it’s here, this pin prick on a map. “How are things?” He finishes finally and hopes that Tanger knows what he’s really asking.

He does.

“They’re good. People still talk about you, obviously. Fans, newspapers, blogs. They’re always going to.”

“Because I get hurt then run away.”

“Because you’re great and will always be great and people love you.”

Geno stares down at the menu even though he already know everything on it by heart. “Don’t know why.”

Tanger kicks him then says “you gave that city everything you had and it ended too soon. You had no control over what happened. You needed to get away. People understand that.”

Geno rolls his eyes and Tanger is quick to amend.

“Most people understand that. And that ones that don’t, well, you know, fuck ‘em.”

Geno laughs.

“You could always come back,” Tanger says, “they’d welcome you right back. They miss you.”

“Miss them too sometimes. Miss the team.”

“We miss you too.” He kicks him again, much softer time. “But we do understand. Take all the time you need, Captain.”

He shakes his head. “Not the Captain.”

He doesn’t know who’s wearing the C now. He never asked and Tanger never said. It could be Tanger himself. He’d be more than okay with that.

“You really like it here?” Tanger puts down the menu and looks out the window. “It’s so quiet. Not like you at all.”

“Yes, that’s why I like it. Quiet, calm, different. Don’t miss the noise.”

It’s mostly true.

“What do you do for fun?”

“I worked on the house a lot. Read. Sleep. Spend a lot of time with Sid.”

Tanger’s smile is immediate. “Right, your hot librarian friend.”

Geno rubs his hand across the back of his neck, suddenly feeling shy. In the past he never had any problems talking about hook ups. But this is more than that.

“Maybe more than friend.”

Tanger’s eyebrows go up.

“Much more than friend.”

_“Really?”_

Geno tries to go for nonchalance when he nods his head but the smile that overtakes his face, the same one he gets whenever he thinks about Sid, wins.

“How long?”

“Only a couple of months but it’s great. Sid’s great.”

“Look at you,” Tanger says as reaches out and tries to pinch Geno’s flushed cheek. “You look so happy.”

“Am happy,” he says as he ducks away from his fingers. “Being here is good. Sid is a good thing.”

“So when do I get to meet him?”

“Tonight. He’s coming for dinner.”

“Oh. Oh. I thought I’d have to work harder than that.”

“Already talk to him about it. Want you two to meet.”

“So you’re serious about him?”

“Yeah. Very serious. Big reason why I wouldn’t go back.”

Tanger opens his mouth to say something but Jake coming through the door with mugs and a coffee pot and Geno can’t resist.

“Can ask for autograph you know. He used to it.”

“What?”

He looks back and forth between the two of them and Tanger shakes his head and grabs the pen from the front of his apron.

He signs and napkin then sticks the pen back in the pocket.

“Kinda sad you didn't ask for my autograph.”

“I was trying to be polite,” he snaps. He takes the napkin off the table and looks at for a moment before he sighs and puts it down in front of Geno. He practically throws the pen down next to it and Geno laughs the whole time he signs his name.

*

After they eat Geno shows him around.

The town is still beautiful even in the warm fog that's rolled in with the rain. 

There's not much to see, Geno admits, but Tanger listens as he tells him about the Farmer’s Market every weekend and shows him the church where Sam Carville married Laura Potter two weeks ago and how they covered every inch of it with white daisies.

He keeps him away from the library.

“I just want to say hi.”

“You see him at dinner. Don't go making him nervous, he won't show.”

“I won’t make him nervous. I don’t plan on threatening his life if he hurts you until _after_ we’ve had dessert.”

Geno pulls him away by his elbow.

*

It’s starting to rain more consistently when they make it back to the house.

“No more holes,” Tanger says as he stomps up the front steps. “Sturdy too.”

Geno unlocks the door and takes a deep breath as Jeffrey bounds in ahead of them, leaving muddy paw prints in his wake.

Tanger tosses his bag on the couch then spins around to look at the room.

He looks at the kitchen and the bathroom and the bedroom.

Geno waits for him at the bottom of the stairs as he snoops around on the second floor.

None of the stairs creak on his way down. 

When he’s done inspecting Tanger stands in the middle of the living room and slowly smiles.

“It looks great, G.”

“Thanks, lotta work. Take a long time. Sid help a lot.”

“Figured he’d be more of a distraction than a help.”

“Only happen after we finished house. Sid very focused.”

“I’m glad you two figured it out," he says around a yawn. 

“Need nap? Getting old.”

“Like you don’t nap. I’ve had a long day.”

“Only one o’clock.”

“Wake me when dinner's ready.”

“Before. You help me.”

Tanger’s already halfway up the stairs when he says “I’m the guest,” and that’s the end of it.

*

Geno doesn’t mean to fall asleep.

He only wanted to rest his eyes for a few minutes but then Jeffrey jumped on the bed and snuggled in and Geno forgot to set the alarm on his phone.

He wakes up with ten minutes to spare before Sid’s supposed to show up for dinner.

The fish won’t take long to cook but he’s not going to get in done in time.

There are sounds in the kitchen, metal on metal, and when Geno gets himself up and out of the bedroom he can see Sid standing at the stove placing a lid on the biggest pot that Geno owns.

He’s in a pair of jeans and a collared shirt that Geno has never seen before, like he bought them special for tonight. 

Geno has a hole in his shirt and he wasn’t planning on changing.

“Sid.”

He turns with a smile. “Did you sleep well?”

“Didn’t hear you come in. Jeffrey didn’t bark.”

“He’s not a very good guard dog.” Sid tips his head towards the living room where Jeffrey is laying on his back on the couch. “He hasn’t moved since I got here. I was going to wake you but you seemed pretty out of it so I just started dinner. I know you were going to cook but…” he trails off and Geno lifts the lid.

There are three lobsters, steaming.

“Expensive, Sid.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Fresh?”

“Caught today.”

“How? No fishermen go out in the storm.”

“I have….ways.”

Geno hooks his fingers in the belt loop of Sid’s jeans.

“Ways? You a part of some secret lobster ring?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sid says as he grabs for the hem of Geno’s shirt and pulls him close.

“Like mob? Lobster mob? You know, some towns have drugs, others have gambling. This town have illegal lobster trade.”

“I said.” Sid kisses the smile on Geno’s lips. “Don’t worry about it.”

Geno presses his face to Sid’s neck. He smells clean and tastes like soap when he kisses the soft skin there.

Sid sighs and leans back against the counter.

“What time does Kris get here?”

Geno pulls back just a little to say, “already up here, upstairs napping,” before he drops his head back down to kiss him again. “Excited to meet you.”

“Oh yeah,” Sid says as he slips his hands beneath Geno’s shirt and rests them on the small of his back.

“Maybe not as excited as you are to meet him but….”

Sid pushes him away but he’s smiling as he does it.

“Do you want me to go because I will.”

“Don’t scare your boyfriend away before I’ve had the chance to properly meet him,” Tanger says as he comes around the corner.

“How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough,” he says with quirk to his lips as he holds a hand out to Sid. “I’m Kris.”

Sid’s face is flushed down to his collar when he shakes his hand.

*

They eat outside while Jeffrey licks drops off butter off the deck.

The storm has cleared out, leaving the sky shades of red and pink as they talk.

It’s mostly Kris, filling in the gaps that Geno has missed since he’s been gone.

He has picture after picture of Alex and Sid leans forward in his chair to look at them.

Geno watches Sid.

He knows he wants kids someday, and now, looking at the way Sid lights up when Tanger him the story of when Alex first stepped on the ice and how wobbly he was, he thinks that maybe Sid could want that too.

It’s a bit overwhelming, to think of something so big and important but when Tanger pulls the phone back to find a specific picture Geno leans over and kisses Sidney’s cheek.

Tanger doesn't look up from his phone but Geno hears him mumble something under his breath in French.

Geno doesn’t let Sid clean up when dessert is done and Sid puts the bowls down and shakes Tanger’s hand again.

“I should get going, it was really nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, man, you too. I'm sure I'll see you around before I leave and if I don't, if you're ever in Pittsburgh I've got seats to a game for you.”

The corner of Sids mouth quirks up in some semblance of a smile and he nods.

“Come on,” Geno says as he stands and holds out his hand. “I'm walk you to the end of the drive.”

“I can make it on my own. It's okay.”

“No, no, come on.”

Sid rolls his eyes but let's Geno grab his hand and he doesn't let go until they meet the road and he needs both of them to cup his face so they can kiss goodnight.

Tanger is waiting for him with his legs stretched out, feet up on Geno’s chair and a huge smile on his face.

Geno knocks his feet away and sits down but the smile remains.

“You like him a lot.”

“Yes.”

“And he likes you.”

Geno smiles and ducks his head.

“You like him?”

“Yeah, I think he’s great. A little quiet but there's nothing wrong with that. I hope I’m not cock blocking you, by the way. He could have stayed over tonight, or you could’ve gone over his place. I’d be fine on my own. I’d watch Jeffrey.”

In the yard Jeffrey stops chasing a firefly and looks up at the sound of his name.

“It’s fine. Can spend a few night apart. Never even been over to his place,” he adds, almost as an afterthought.

“What, seriously? You’re never been to his place?”

Geno shakes his head.

“You don’t think that’s strange?”

“No. He comes here. It’s fine.”

“Yeah but, it’s been how long? He’s never invited you over?”

“I have my own house, why do I need his?”

“I get that but….you’ve really never seen his place?”

“I already said that.”

“And he’s never asked you to go to his place?”

“No.”

“Geno.”

“What? What is big deal?”

“Nothing.” He shrugs and picks up their almost empty cans of beer. “How long has he been working at the library? I didn’t get a chance to ask.”

“Because you talk too much.”

“ _He_ kept asking _me_ questions. What was I supposed to do?”

Geno shrugs and calls for Jeffrey as he opens the door for Kris.

“So. How long as he worked there?”

“Not sure,” he says then tuts when Tanger tries to toss the cans in the regular garbage. “Have recycle bin, Tanger. Not a monster.”

He dumps the cans in the bin then wipes his hands on the back of his shorts. “How long has he been living here? Was he born here?”

“No. Come here later.”

“But when?”

“Not sure.”

“When is his birthday? Christ, do you know anything about him?”

He knows how Sid likes his coffee and how much honey he puts in his tea.

There’s a spot behind Sid’s ear that makes him laugh when he puts his lips there and a spot just below it that makes him go completely quiet but makes his heart jump.

He prefers to sleep on the right side of the bed and he always checks to make sure he’s locked the door to the library twice before he leaves at night.

He know that even though Sid’s never said it outloud he loves Jeffrey. He’s caught them napping together on the couch more times than he can count.

Up until this moment he thought that was all he needed to know. That was all that was important.

Now Tanger keeps looking at him like he’s expecting him to tell him that he’s right.

It’s like he’s back at his final game again.

He’s on the ice and one moment everything is fine and the next it’s not. Everything has changed.

He opens his mouth but all that comes out is a frustrated sound.

“Why you asking me these questions? I’m happy, really happy for the first time in a long time and you come here and you do this?”

“I’m sorry, G, I’m just trying to look out for you.”

“Don’t need to look out for me, not like this.”

“I don’t want to see you get hurt. I’m worried you’re already halfway in love with this guy and he’s not who you think he really is.”

Geno stares down at the floor.

“Oh,” Tanger says and Geno huffs and turns the hot water on in the sink. There are dishes to clean. “You’re already all the way in love with him.”

“Shut up.”

The water is hot enough to be uncomfortable but he sticks a glass beneath it anyways and starts to rinse.

“Does he know?” Tanger asks from behind him.

“Haven’t said anything.” He sets the glass down carefully in the other side of the sink to dry and then says over his shoulder “don’t know if I will now.”

Tanger sighs and comes closer. He rests his hip on the counter and crosses his arms over his chest. “Maybe I’m wrong or being too protective.”

“Maybe.”

“He does seem like a nice guy. It’s obvious that he likes you a lot. I just don’t want you to get ahead of yourself. Talk to him. See if he can answer some of these questions.”

“He doesn’t always like to talk.”

“Okay,” he says slowly, “now don’t get upset with me but does that sound like a healthy relationship.”

Geno chooses to study the way the water and soap bubbles flow over his hands instead of answering.

“Try talking to him before things go any further. Before you say something that you can’t take back.”

Geno doesn’t say anything and Tanger turns on the cold water.

“You’re going to burn yourself.”

Geno grunts out a thank you.

“Isn’t it better to know now rather than a year from now. I just want to make sure you’re both on the same page. If he isn’t as into this as you are-.”

Geno squeezes his eyes shut and holds up a hand. He understands but it hurts to think about, to hear. The idea that this is casual to Sid is painful.

"I'll talk to him and figure it out. Hope for the best."

"Good." Tanger takes the glass from him and start to dry. "You deserve it."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting there, people.


	8. Chapter 8

Geno leans forward on Sid’s desk and rests his head on his arms.

He hasn’t been sleeping well since the talk he had with Tanger in his kitchen a week ago. Tanger left three days after that with a hug and a _‘I hope everything works out’._

Sid’s updating something on the computer, fingers tapping against the keyboard, only pausing to pull a book out from beneath Geno’s arms.

He sets the book down when he's done then reaches back over to rake his fingers through Geno’s hair.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

Fingertips trace his ear and he sighs.

“You haven’t been sleeping.”

“How can you tell?”

“I can feel you tossing and turning at night.”

“You sleep okay.”

“One of us should. Are you going to tell me what’s keeping you up?” Sid punctuates the question with a tap to Geno's temple.

“It’s nothing.”

Sid takes his hand away abruptly and puts it back on the keyboard, poised to type.

“I can't help you if you don't let me. I'm too old for games.”

“Don't even know how old you are,” Geno grumbles and Sid narrows his eyes. “Don't know your birthday. Don't know a lot of things.”

“If you wanted to know my birthday you could have just asked.”

“That simple? Sometimes you don’t like to talk. Picky.”

“I told you if I you had questions I'd answer them.”

“Didn't want to upset you.”

“So it's easier for you to make yourself upset?”

Geno sighs heavily and Sid pushes his hair off his forehead.

“August 8th.”

“August-that's in two weeks. Have to do something.”

“It's no big deal. It's just another day.”

“Your birthday, Sid.”

“It’s just another year, Geno. Really, it's not a big deal.”

“How old?”

“I was born in ‘87.”

“Only a year younger than me.”

Sid gives him a sidelong look. “Were you worried it would be more?”

“Baby face, Sid. Hard to tell.”

Sid’s face twists and Geno leans back in his chair to laugh.

“Not a baby face, fine.” He holds Sid’s jaw in the palm of his hand and his eyes roam over the angles of his face, too sharp and defined to be mistaken for anything other than a full grown man. “Pretty,” he says, “can’t fight me on that.”

Geno swears he feels the smile beneath his hand before it graces Sidney’s face.

“Nothing extravagant for my birthday,” he says and Geno drops his hand from his face so he can clap. “Nothing expensive.”

“Can’t promise.”

Sid turns back to the computer. “That can't be all that was bothering you.”

“Just want to know,” he says, “want to know everything I can. You know about me.”

“Everyone knows about you.”

“Lots to know still. Could tell you. Maybe over dinner? At your place?”

Sid’s eyebrows raise and he stops typing. “You want to come over?”

“Know it's rude to invite myself but….want to see where you live if that's okay.”

“Of course it’s okay.”

He doesn’t sound sure and Geno squints at him. When he speaks he sounds far away.

“It’s fine. Did you want to come over tonight?”

Geno nods his head emphatically. “Can bring something.” He covers Sid’s wrist with his hand. “Know that wine you like.”

A red that turns Sid’s cheeks a soft pink and makes him sweet and happy.

There is color on his cheeks now, recalling some wine induced memory, and Geno presses a kiss to the inside of his wrist and stands. 

“Go home, play with Jeffrey, feed him, then come over. Bring wine, just for you.”

*

Geno’s palms are sweating.

He’s at risk of losing either the wine bottle or his phone as he reads the address Sid sent for the fourth time just to double check.

It’s a small cottage, covered in weathered cedar siding and stone steps that lead up to the front door. 

It’s on a particularly rocky part of coastline, more boulders than sand but nestled between them there’s a dock that juts far into the water with a boat secured at the end.

The cottage is old, probably older than his own home, but in good shape even though the shudders could use a fresh coat of paint and the stain on the front door is faded from the salt in the air.

He starts up the sandy pathway and wills himself to calm down.

Whatever he finds on the other side of that door, whatever the answers to his questions are, they'll be okay.

They'll have to be.

Sid opens the door right when Geno has his left foot on the bottom step.

He looks soft. Shorts and a sweatshirt with his hands tucked into the front pocket. He's barefoot and resting one foot on top of the other and Geno tucks the bottle of wine under his arm so he'll have a free hand to put on the side of his face when he kisses him hello.

“Found it okay?”

Geno nods and hands him the wine. “Open.”

“Come on in first.” He opens the door wider and Geno gets his first look at Sid’s home life.

It's sparsely decorated.

There are no paintings on the walls. No photographs.

He has a lamp and a book shelf against the far wall that's filled with books.

There’s a loveseat and an end table, neither of which look like they've gotten much use.

Geno has only had his furniture for a handful of months but the couch is already worn on the side he sits on and there are water rings on all of the wooden surfaces.

It's looks a little cold and clinical, like a museum.

He follows Sid into the kitchen and sees more of the same.

Appliances and a table with two chairs.

There aren't even any magnets on the fridge but there is bacon frying in a pan and that gets most of Geno's attention.

“I thought we could have BLT’s,” Sid says as he uncorks and pours the wine.

“So fancy, Sid.” Geno takes the glass then raises it at Sid. “Go good with wine.”

Sid shakes his head. “It's not like you gave me a lot of time to plan.”

“It's okay. Don't know how to cook, it's fine.”

“I know how to cook.”

“Bacon, yes.”

Sid huffs and grabs a spatula.

Geno curls his fingers into the front of Sid’s shirt to drag him in for a kiss.

“Don't care what we eat,” he says against his temple when he pulls back, “just happy to be here.”

Geno can feel the tension drain from Sid’s body when he kisses his forehead.

“Going to decorate your house for your birthday though.”

“I know it's not much but I don't really have people over. Ever. And I'm not here a lot so there was never any motivation to make it look like-.”

“Home,” Geno supplies. 

Sid shrugs one shoulder, selling indifference pretty well by Geno's heart aches. He hates the idea of Sid living all the way out here, isolated and lonely.

He kisses him again.

“You don't have to feel sorry for me. I'm fine.”

“Don't feel sorry.” He touches the middle of Sid’s chin with his thumb and sighs. “Okay, maybe feel a little sorry. Some paintings or pictures. I make it look nice.”

“No offense but I don't think we have the same style.”

Geno pinches his hip. “Lies, Sid. You love my style. Get you a dozen seashell lamps.”

“You can try,” Sid says as he pulls a tomato off the windowsill and places it on the cutting board to his left. “Slice this.”

“Say please,” Geno says softly but he takes the knife and the kiss that Sid offers to him instead.

 

Geno has sliced the tomato, put bread into the toaster, and drank 2 glasses of wine when he asks Sid where the bathroom is.

“Want to clean up before dinner.”

Sid nods towards the hallway that separates the living room from the kitchen and says _second door on the right._

All of the doors are closed and curiosity wins out as he opens the first one not the second, and ends up standing in the threshold of his bedroom.

It's just as empty as the other rooms, only a bed and a dresser and he knows that he has to buy something to put on these walls.

There’s a small gallery in town where he can pick up a few pieces or he can get a photo he’s taken himself and get it framed.

He’s a terrible photographer- most of the pictures he takes end up blurry or out of focus- but his phone is full of shots of the water and sunsets and the docks when they’re the busiest...one of them has to be good enough to frame.

Then there are the quieter photos.

The one where he’s managed to talk Sid into taking a selfie with the lighthouse on the far corner of the island in the background.

Sid reading on the couch with Jeffrey’s head in his lap.

Drinking tea on the front porch, catching his profile with the ocean in the background and the mug halfway to his lips.

His favorite, though, is the one he took late one evening. Sid’s shirtless and lying in the light from the seashell lamp.

His eyes are closed in the photo, eyelashes fanning over his cheeks but as soon as he heard the click of the camera going off he threw one arm over his face and pointed the other to where he thought Geno was sitting.

_“Delete that.”_

Geno looked at his phone then held it close to his chest.

_“Never.”_

Sid had groaned but then grabbed him by the elbow to pull him down on top of him.

That one he might get framed just for himself.

They’ll have a discussion about where to hang it whenever he can get Sid to move in with him.

“Dinner’s almost done,” he hears Sid call from the kitchen.

He’s yet to make it to the bathroom and doesn’t want to be caught in here with the explanation that he was planning a photographic wall mural as a birthday present.

In his haste to get out he bumps into the dresser and the small, wooden jewelry box that had been balancing on the edge falls to the floor.

There is a beat of complete silence before Sid calls his name and Geno starts shoveling items back into the box.

There’s a pair of cufflinks, heavy with fine detailing, a pocket watch on a silver chain that looks like it hasn’t kept proper time in years, and a few gold coins that don’t look to be like any currency he’s ever seen before.

“Geno, everything okay?”

“It’s fine, Sid. Be right there.”

He can only find one gold studded earring with emerald stone inserts and he swallows down the bitter taste of jealousy that bubbles up at the thought of _some woman_ leaving these behind as he sweeps his arm beneath the dresser looking for the match.

He finds a cross on a gold chain instead, completely ordinary except for the loose clasp and his own name engraved into the back.

He drops the box as he gets to his feet, the necklace, _his necklace_ , still tight in his grasp when he runs into Sid in the hall.

“I told you it was the second door, how could you get lost?”

Geno holds his necklace in front of Sid’s face and Sid’s breath catches.

“Why do you have this?” Geno takes a step forward as Sid takes a step back.

“I can explain.”

“Why do you have this,” he repeats. “This is mine, came off in water and now you have it, how?” He keeps walking forward and Sid puts his hands up.

“I can explain.”

“You steal this? You find me on the beach before I wake up and you take it?”

“No.”

“It wash up on shore and you keep it without telling me? I told you about this, you know that it’s mine, why do you have this? steal it then sell it?”

“No!”

They’re in the kitchen now and Sid finally stands his ground, not moving when Geno comes chest to chest with him.

He puts his hands on Geno’s chest and says “I found it in the water” as calmly as he can.

It does nothing to settle Geno.

“No, out too far, no one could find. Why you not tell me that you found it?”

“I can explain.”

“You said that already,” he snaps.

Sid flinches and Geno loses the fight from his voice when he asks again. “Why do you have this?”

“I can-.” He cuts himself off and takes a deep breath. “It’s easier if I show you.”

*

Sid turns the back porch light on and Geno follows him down to the dock with his necklace still in his hand.

Sid keeps turning around, like he’s checking that he’s still there, until he gets onto the dock and walks straight to the end.

Geno follows after.

Sid’s toes curl over the edge as he looks into the water.

Geno holds the necklace so tight the cross starts to cut into his skin.

“I need you to promise me something.”

“I need you to tell me the truth, Sid. This why you're so quiet, don't want to make friends or tell anyone about yourself? Some kind of scheme.”

Sid turns and looks hurt. “No. Nothing like that. I would never do that. But I lied to you and I'm asking you to please don't leave until I can explain it.”

Geno can hear his hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears. 

“Scaring me.”

Sid shakes his head and reaches a hand out but he's too far away to reach and Geno can't bring himself to step forward any further.

Sid’s arm falls back to his side.

“If you want to leave afterwards and never see me again that's….it’s something I'll have to deal with. I won't blame you.”

“Sidney.”

“Please.”

Geno nods, helpless against the plea in his voice and Sid nods back before pulling his shirt over his head.

They hold eye contact as Sid unbuttons his jeans and kicks off his shoes and Sid doesn't look away until he's standing naked on the dock with his clothes in a pile at his feet.

He takes his own necklace off. “Take it. Please.”

Geno holds his hand out palm up and Sid drops the necklace into the middle.

“Hold onto it,” he says then he turns and dives into the water.

There's no splash and rushes forward, clutching both necklaces close to his chest as he looks over the edge.

Geno only thinks to start counting after he's been standing there for awhile and by the time he gets to forty five without Sid breaching the surface he starts to panic.

Every second that goes by without Sid surfacing pushes Geno further and further into all out terror.

He calls his name, he paces from one side of the dock to the other and wonders if he should have called 911 by now, if that would even do anything. If they would even get here on time if he needed them.

He slides his feet out of his flip flops and sets the necklaces down carefully on top of Sid's clothes so he can jump in.

He’s at the edge, ready to jump,  when Sid’s head and shoulders finally pop out of the water and Geno bends over with both hands on his knees to catch his breath.

“Sid, god, was so worried, what are you doing?”

“Step back, okay?”

Geno takes a few steps back as Sid braces his arms against the dock and hauls himself up.

Water rushes over the dock, onto Sid’s clothes and over Geno's bare feet and he stumbles back, tripping over them when Sid gets himself all the way out of the water.

There's a tail where his legs should be.

Black and gold and shimmering in the waning light.

“Sid.” He's breathless and dizzy and believing that something is real is so different than having the proof right there and loving it is something else entirely. “Sid.”

“I know, I know. It's okay. I'm so sorry,” he says, “I'm so sorry I lied to you. But I did find your necklace in the water."

The last thing Geno cares about right now is the necklace. 

"You told me about it and I went out and found it. It took me a couple of days but....that's what all of those things are. I'd never steal and I'd never sell them. I'm not a thief."

Geno shakes his head. “Sid, you’re-.”

He's beautiful, just as he has always been. The tail is gorgeous. The last time he saw it he was half dead and it was underwater but now….it's like something out of a dream.

There's water sticking to his eyelashes and catching in the hollows of his collarbone and his hair is inky black and pushed off his forehead.

_He loves him,_ all of him.

“I'm so sorry, Geno.”

Geno throws his legs beneath him and scrambles forward. He puts his hands on Sid’s shoulders and rests their foreheads together.

“You're beautiful,” Geno breathes, “beautiful.”

Sid’s skin is wet and cold but his lips are warm against his own when they kiss.

*

Sid sits with his tail in the water.

Geno dips his feet in and listens to Sid tell him everything.

He remembers the island before the town was here.

“You said you were born in 1987. Younger than me. Look younger than me.”

“In said ‘87. You assumed.”

He tells him that time is different out there.

He looks out over the water as he says it.

Geno takes his hand.

When he was younger he heard stories, tall tales of elders that could walk on land on two legs and then slip into the sea seamlessly.

The stories captivated him. He thought of nothing else but feeling sand beneath his feet, leaving footprints on the shore.

He needed a cursed charm for it to work. His parents knew he'd do anything to get it. He'd make a bad deal. He'd end up giving up his first born, his voice, his life if he needed to.

His parents presented him with the necklace and the catch.

He could go on land but they'd never be able to follow.

They could go into deeper waters but he’d never be able to go with them.

Geno leans back, twisting so he doesn't have to let go of Sid’s hand and grabs both of their necklaces. They're tangled now and Sid covers Geno's hand with his own when he tries to unwrap them.

“You take the deal. Don't see parents again.”

“I was young and stupid. They left the choice up to me. When it happened the town was still developing. I never thought about the future, about what could happen.”

It was so easy to slip into town the first time.

He waited until nightfall, stole clean clothes off a line and blended in.

No one questioned him. No one asked for papers. His word was good enough.

He took a job on a fishing boat and got paid. Bought this plot of land, isolated and unwanted and built this house on his own.

He saw the town grow.

“I remember when your house was built. The color is almost the same. It looks better now,” he says, “now that you're in it.”

Geno smiles and ducks his head. His lips stay upturned until Sid tells him that he fell in love for the first time in 1856.

His name was Charlie and Sid holds tight to Geno's hand, their necklaces pressed between their palms, like Geno's going to let go.

He'd never dream of it.

They worked together at first, spending long hours together on the boat in the middle of the ocean and grew into something more.

Sid spares him the details and Geno is grateful.

“I knew that I shouldn't be doing it. I managed almost fifty years on my own but-.”

“Can't control who you love, Sid. Or when.”

“I thought about staying on land for him. Destroying the necklace.” He doesn't take his eyes off the surface of the water as he speaks. “I was going to do it. I kept testing myself, pushing myself to stay out of the water for longer and longer. It's like an itch. I don't need to be out there but..."

“Like being on ice,” Geno says. “Miss it when I don't have it.”

Sid looks at him, finally, eyes wide and dark.

“Know how it feels to not be where you’re supposed to be,” he says then watches the way Sid’s throat works when he swallows and nods.

“I faked sick one morning so I wouldn’t have to go out on the boat with the rest of the crew. It had been a month since I had last been in the water and I was going to go one last time, just for a few hours, before I destroyed this.” He squeezes Geno’s palm. “There was a storm coming in. I knew how bad it was going to be, I could feel it. I begged him to stay. He told me he'd be fine but they were only out there for an hour before the storm hit. The crew was too inexperienced. They didn't stand a chance.”

Geno goes cold all over. “You watch?”

“I couldn't help them.” His eyes are shining. “They would have found out about me. They couldn’t know what I was, that was never supposed to happen. I had to protect myself. I couldn’t save him.”

Geno slips an arm around his shoulders, pulls him close, and feels him take a long shuddering breath.

“Okay if it still hurts,” he murmurs into Sid’s hair. It’s mostly dry by now and curling wildly at the edges. “Don’t have to say more if you don’t want to.”

He sighs and lifts his head off Geno’s chest. “I stayed away from everyone after that. I never needed much to get by so I lived off what I had. I’m pretty sure people thought that I had died but I didn’t care. I let them talk. Whatever stories they could come up with wouldn’t be the truth. The more I hid the safer I was. My family had to move on eventually. Too many people, too much traffic. The odds of them being spotted off the side of the ship got to be too high and cameras didn’t help. They had to go and I couldn’t follow.”

“You alone all this time?”

He nods. “It wasn’t so bad,” he says. “By the time I came back to town I wasn’t even a story anymore. Everyone who could have remembered me first hand was gone. It was like a fresh start. I got the job at the library easily enough. It kept me busy. I got to catch up on things that I missed.”

“It’s good for you. Good for you to get out.” He kisses the side of his head. “Meet me.”

Sid laughs. It sounds hollow. “I saw you coming a mile away. You weren’t even on land yet and I knew that I was going to do this all over again. All I was going to do was look. I didn’t think you’d be looking back.”

“It was you in the water. I’d see you every night.”

“I couldn’t stay away and then you got that stupid boat," he laughs, "why couldn’t you have just listened to me?”

“You saved my life,” Geno says, carding his fingers through Sid’s hair, twisting a stray curl back into place.

“I had to. I couldn’t watch another person that I love die like that.”

He seems shocked at what he's said but doesn't try to take it back.

“I love you,” he says instead. He raises his shoulders like a weight has been lifted. “I haven't said that in a very long time.”

Geno puts his hand on the side of Sid’s face, palm cupping his cheek. “Happy to hear. You know I love you, too. Have to know.”

Sid closes his eyes and leans forward to kiss him.

“I need you to do something for me,” he says when they pull apart. He uncurls Geno's other hand from around the necklaces and picks up the stone pendant of his own. “I need you to get rid of this for me.”

“What?”

“I'll wear it and get my legs back and then you'll destroy it.”

“No. Not doing that.”

“It has to go. I'll do it myself.”

Geno closes his hand again and bats Sids away with his other. “No.”

“This is the only way. It's too much of a risk to go back and forth. If I get caught I'll drag you down with me. Everyone knows we're together. You can't hide out here forever, Geno. Other people will find out.”

“No, I'll make sure they don't. I'll protect you.”

Sid laughs bitterly. “You can't protect me from scientists or the military or whoever else they'll bring in here to take me. They'll study me.”

“Don't know that.”

“You think they're just going to let me live my life? They'll take me and they won't be happy with just me. They'll go after my family. They'll go after you.”

“Don't care about me.”

“I do. I can't do that to you.”

“Worry too much, Sid.” Geno says. “Can't make you chose. Won't. Fall in love with you the way you are.”

“You didn't know who I really am.”

“Know now, still love. It'll be okay.”

“You don't-.”

"Shhh." He places their necklaces down on the dock and pushes himself onto his knees to get closer and holds Sid's face in his hands. "Worry to much. Alone all this time, nothing but worry. This is who you are, I love all of it."

"How are you so okay with this," Sid asks, lips brushing Geno's as he talks.

"Already knew you were real." He squeezes the back of Sid's neck, almost giddy with the knowledge that he was right. "I knew it."

He settles back down beside Sid, his thigh pressing to the side of his tail and there's nothing but the two of them. 

Crickets chirping around them and Sid's tail moving lazily through the water. 

Geno rests his head on Sid's shoulder and they look up at the stars. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *squints* what plot hole did I not manage to close?
> 
> Final chapter will be a short, little epilogue.


	9. Chapter 9

The deck of the boat is sun warmed.

Heat seeps through the towel he’s lying on as rays dance over his face and body.

The sky is cloudless, offering no protection from the sun but he’s thankful for the warmth.

It had been a long winter filled with snowstorms and frigid winds coming off the water and Sid coming home wrapped in the thick, flannel blanket that Geno insisted be left by the shore no matter how much Sid objected.

_“I’ve told you,”_ he said, standing barefoot in the kitchen and rubbing the towel that Geno threw at him as soon as he walked in the door, _“the cold doesn’t have the same effect on me.”_

Geno stepped around Jeffrey who was licking the water that dripped off Sid and onto the floor and set the kettle on the stove.

_“Make me cold just looking at you. Sit in front of fireplace, warm up. I’ll bring you tea.”_

Sid’s response was to drop the blanket and plaster his cold body against Geno’s back.

The last remaining patches of snow finally melted weeks ago and the island has begun to thaw.

There are buds on the trees and the flowers beneath his windows are beginning to poke back through the dirt and when Sid wraps his arms around him and presses his face into his neck the tip of his nose is warm and welcome.

Geno is winter pale from months of hiding beneath thick sweaters and coats and even though he hasn’t been lying like this for long he can already feel the sun tightening his skin where he’s starting to burn.

Geno sighs and throws a hand out, feeling his way along the deck for the bag that Sid had packed. He had watched him tuck two full bottles of sunscreen into the bag along side sandwiches and drinks for lunch and plenty of water for Jeffrey.

He stretches out his arm, reaching blindly for the bag and knocks into Jeffrey instead, who had been sleeping peacefully beside him.

Jeffrey groans and stands up.

He grew quick, tripling his body weight over the winter but still acts like a ten pound lap dog when he jumps on the couch with them at night or in bed early in the morning when they’re trying to sleep in or now as he tries to continue his nap in the middle of Geno’s chest.

“Jeffrey,” Geno says, trying to fight him off. His tail wags faster, beating against the side of boat and Geno’s face each time it swishes back and forth. “Too big, we talk about this.”

“You’re burning.”

Both Geno and Jeffrey stop struggling and look towards the stern.

Sid’s holding onto the sides of the ladder with one hand, the other clenched into a fist. 

His eyes are bright, bits of gold catching the light from the sun and his lips are turned up, completely undermining the concerned tone of his words.

Jeffrey lunges at him, tail slapping Geno once more, and starts to lick the salt water from Sid’s face.

“Okay, okay,” Sid says, laughing as he tries to get a hold of his collar so he can pull him away. “You saw me twenty minutes ago.”

Geno pushes himself up on one elbow and watches. “Long time for him.”

Sid scratches Jeffrey's chest until he falls over and Sid has enough room to hoist himself onto the deck, his tail still dipping into the water. 

He touches his fingertip to Geno's shoulder and presses, the skin going white around the edge then bright red again when he takes it away.

“Burning.”

“I'll put on lotion. Happy," he asks and Sid nods.  Geno juts his chin out towards Sid's closed hand. “Find anything good this time?”

He's brought up a few items already. A couple of coins, a wine bottle he wants to use on as a vase. 

Nothing spectacular. 

"Hold your hand out," Sid says, then drops a gold ring into the center of his palm. 

It's a thin band with delicate engravings around the outside. 

He looks up at Sid, wondering what they're going to do with this. 

Sid's not looking at him, choosing to trace designs in the water that he brought up with him. 

"I thought maybe you might like it," he says, repeating the same figure eight pattern for the third time. "It looks small so it probably won't fit but I can get you another one, if you want. I know sometimes men don't wear rings and that's fine too, I can get you something else. If you even want anything. It's not like you've even said yes so..."

"Sid," he says slowly, closing his hand around the ring, "what am I saying yes to?"

"You know it can't be official, I can't sign any papers or anything but." He pauses and looks up, finally. "We can get close."

"You're asking me to marry you?"

"There can't be a wedding. Not really."

"Big party then," Geno says, flipping the ring over and over in his hand. "Invite the whole town."

"I don't know about."

"Party, Sid. Small one if you really want." He tries to fit the ring on his finger but he can't even get it close to his knuckle.

"I'll get you another," Sid says, hand out and ready to take it back but Geno shakes his head and quickly undoes his necklace, slipping the ring onto the chain. 

"Like this, always have it close to me, never take it off."

He grabs Sid's necklace off the hook and hands it over to him. 

"Put that on. We have to go home?"

"What's the rush?"

Geno kisses him, deep and slow.

"Maybe we can't get married like everyone else," he says with a shrug, "but we can have honeymoon like everyone else. Go home and practice."

He works the necklace over his head and kisses Geno until Jeffrey gets up and pushes his way between them, demanding attention. 

Sid's smile is like the sun, warm and bright, lighting him up from the inside out. 

"Lets go home," he says. 

Geno smiles back. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sad this is over, I had a ton of fun writing it and I want to thank everyone for their sweet comments. The best part of my day is getting an email notification telling me that someone has left a comment. It really means a lot :) 
> 
> Onto the next, whatever that might be.


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